Farmer helps fellow villagers get rich through organic farming (2)

Photo shows Zhang Fa feeding ostriches with organic grass. (Photo/Zhu Liurong)

A Chinese farmer has set an example of how to become prosperous through sustainable farming for his fellow villagers.

Zhang Fa from Liuzhou, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, owns a 2.67-hectare breeding base where cattle eat fermented cornstalks, ostriches eat grass, and earthworms grow in the soil covered in cattle manure.

In 2019, Zhang used all his savings to buy 20 cattle, and planned to turn the crop straw, which was mostly discarded or burned, into livestock fodder.

Zhang said that the cattle consume about one tonne of fodder each day. He asked people to collect crop straw in the fields, and sometimes villagers send him straw they had harvested.

"I spend about 200 yuan on a tonne of straw, and besides using them to feed the cattle, I also process the straw into fodder for sale. The fodder sells for at least 400 yuan per tonne, and supply falls short of demand," Zhang said.

Zhang also raises earthworms to both dispose of the cattle manure and increase his income. “The earthworms can be used in medicine, and they are purchased at between 220 and 300 yuan per kg,” Zhang said, revealing that the earthworms can generate 300,000 yuan for him this year. Furthermore, the earthworm casts are natural nutrients for the grass, while the organic grass provides food for ostriches.

With many villagers becoming interested in Zhang's breeding business, he said that he is very willing to offer technical guidance to them and help them sell the products so as they also become better off.