Smart silkworm farming boosts rural vitalization in Hechi

Silkworm farmers in Shangping village, Desheng town, Yizhou district, use an electric rail to feed mulberry leaves to silkworm worms. [Photo/Hechi Daily]

In recent years, with the development of new silkworm varieties and the promotion of improved methods, the traditional silkworm-rearing methods are continuously upgrading to automation and intelligence.

"By relying on cultivating mulberry and raising silkworms, my family earned over 120,000 yuan ($17,442) last year," said Lan Huifeng, a silkworm farmer in Shangping village, Desheng town, Yizhou district in Hechi. Lan's confidence stems from Hechi's labor-saving silkworm-rearing facilities.

Take the automatic cocoon extractor for an example. Lan introduced that in the past, after cocooning in a box, worms needed to be manually removed from the cocoons one by one. One person could only extract 50 kilograms of cocoons per day. Now, one person can extract over 200 kg of cocoons in half a day. A machine can also be used by several farmers in turn, not only greatly reducing labor costs, but also improving work efficiency.

Jialian Silk Company has developed the first intelligent multi-layer feeding and breeding workshop in the industry, allowing silkworm worms to live in four "skyscrapers" with 48 floors and a total height of 9 meters. To complete a large workload in the past required 10 workers, but now that same workload can be completed with only two workers.

At the Tianchong Silkworm Silkworm Science and Technology Demonstration Base in Liangcun village, Liusanjie town, the smart silkworm breeding platform relies on 5G Internet of Things, 5G + VR, AI + big data, and cloud computing technology to achieve complete informatization and digitization of the silkworm-breeding process. With this technology, farmers can control the silkworm mortality rate within 1 percent, reaching the national leading level.

Huang Kangdong, the head of the Hechi Municipal Sericulture Technology Promotion Station, introduced that Hechi’s sericulture production covers 128 townships in 11 counties and districts. Over 200,000 farming households have planted mulberry and sericulture, and about 1 million people are benefiting from the industry. The average annual income of sericulture households exceeds 45,000 yuan. The city has more than 70 related invention patents, and the promotion and utilization rates of its advanced technologies are leading in the country.