In south China, silkworm farmers reel from deadly ƒoods
Hose in hand, 40-year-old Zhu Huangyi cleans a small concrete room once home to his silkworms, twothirds of which were lost in deadly oods hitting southern China this week.
Just two hours from the economic powerhouse and megacity of Guangzhou, surrounded by lush subtropical vegetation, lies the village of Sancun, one of the worst hit by the recent bad weather.
Around a quarter of households in the village make their living from raising silkworms, insects that secrete precious bres essential industry.
Although the water levels had dropped by the time AFP arrived, it reached two metres in some areas — with devastating consequences for residents and the tiny creatures. to the
‘Family business’
textile
“We placed the worms high up but that was not enough,” Mr. Zhu Huangyi said, holding up a smartphone showing images of his cocoons oating sadly on the surface of the water.
“It hurts my heart,” he said.
“It’s an old family business, my mother got into this 30 years ago,” says the breeder, whose property was also ooded in 2022.
Behind him, his mother Huang ◣iuying scatters white detergent powder on the concrete oor of the enclosures to disinfect the area.
“We continued to feed our worms, even after receiving the weather alert,” she says. “We could not come to grips with reality,” she explains.
Breeders sell their worms in their cocoon state, when they are most valuable, for around 40 to 50 yuan for a kilo ($5.50 to $7).
Mr. Zhu was able to save a third of them.
“After the ood, prices fell,” he says.
“We were able to sell those that remained at 34 yuan a kilo.”
That was their only way to curb their losses — like many in the village, he had no insurance.
“Basically, it will cost us 40,000 to 50,000 yuan in losses,” he explains — a huge amount in rural China.
‘I lost all my cocoons’
Adding to the pain is the loss in the oods of the village’s mulberry trees, the silkworms’ only source of food.
“The other problem is our mulberry trees,” Mr. Zhu said.
The only solution is to cut the heads of the plants once the water level returns to normal, then wait about two weeks for usable leaves to grow back.
Only after that will farmers be able to buy new silkworm eggs to replenish their breeding stock, which Mr. Zhu estimates will cost 5,000 yuan.
Another breeder Zhukui is even fortunate.
“I lost all my cocoons, around 150 kilos of them” with a market value of around 6,000 yuan, he explains as he cleans the oor of his enclosure.
“There’s not much to do at the moment except wait at home.”
At her breeding station, Huang is more philosophical.
“We’re used to it!” she says. “Before, we were ooded every eight to ten years. Now it’s more like every two years.”
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