Inner Mongolia: A cocoon in the hands of Arong’s loving mother, a shirt on the body of a wanderer from the Northeast

Recently, the silkworm farmers of Arong Banner living in the southern foothills of the Daxingan Mountains in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have had a bumper harvest. The cocoons produced in the hands of loving mothers have once again become the clothing of wanderers in the Northeast.

Arong Banner, one of the five major tussah producing areas in China, has a tussah breeding area of 470,000 acres and can produce about 5.04 million kilograms of fresh tussah pupae and about 1.26 million kilograms of cocoons every year.

Ma Yunxu, a silkworm farmer in Songtagou Village, Xiangyangyu Town, Arong Banner, said that the silkworm cocoons produced here have good silk quality and good toughness. Most of them are sold to the Northeast region and become raw materials for silk clothing, silk quilts, etc., providing shelter for the people in the Northeast. Keep out the cold.

Arong Banner has been raising sericulture for more than 60 years. There are now more than 5,000 sericulture households, and the comprehensive output value of sericulture can reach 230 million yuan. According to Li Zhi, director of the Arong Banner Sericulture Technology Promotion Center, people are highly motivated to raise sericulture because the income from sericulture is high and it does not affect the farming season. There is a saying that “one year of farming and sericulture is worth two years.”

“This year, the price of pupa cocoons on the field is 50 yuan per kilogram, which is about the same as the income from farming.” Nie Zhenguo, a silkworm farmer in Zhenzhu Village, Liuhe Town, Arong Banner, said, “After sowing in the spring, we release silkworm ants up the mountain, and before the autumn harvest, we go up the mountain to collect the cocoons for sale, which does not delay farm work at all. “Nie Zhenguo and his wife pick cocoons one by one and transport them down the mountain. This year the couple is expected to earn 100,000 yuan.

The green forest is full of white silkworm cocoons, and silkworm farmers picking cocoons shuttle among them, creating a scene of abundant harvest. Similar to tea picking in the south, most of the cocoons are picked by women, while men are responsible for transporting them up and down the mountain. The brightly dressed female silkworm farmers contrast with the green and white forests, showing the harmonious symbiosis between man and nature.

“Annotations to Ancient and Modern Times” once recorded, “Moths are born from cocoons, and the moths carry eggs, and the eggs stick to stones, and more than ten thousand stones are harvested, which the people think of as silkworm wadding.” This record vividly describes the process of silkworm growth and maturity.

Li Zhi introduced that raising silkworms is not easy. In the spring, silkworm farmers will breed the silkworm moths that emerge from the cocoons, and then breed the silkworm ants and put them in the woods on the mountain; in the autumn, the silkworm pupae that have “cocooned themselves” can be harvested. ” Silk can be obtained by “stripping out cocoons” and used to make clothing and silk quilts. The pupae are edible.

“The tussah silkworms in the north are different from the mulberry silkworms in the south. Adult tussah silkworms in the north are larger and have better silk toughness. High-quality tussah silk can also be used as silk thread in paper coins and has a wide range of uses.” Ju Zhengbo, a merchant from Liaoning, said.

Tussah silkworms feed on tussah leaves and have high requirements for environmental conditions. Silkworm farmers told reporters that when they go to the mountains to release ants, spread silkworms, and move silkworms, no one wears makeup or sprays perfume, because even the slightest smell will affect the growth of tussah silkworms.

“When the ecological environment is good, tussah silkworms will grow well and our income will be high.” Qu Dianyou, a silkworm farmer in Horqi Town, Arong Banner, said, “Raising silkworms can increase the soil organic matter and humus in the tussah forest, and conserve the water and soil on the mountain. Realize ‘raising silkworms on the mountain, farming below the mountain, resisting drought and waterlogging, and doubling the income’.”

Nowadays, the oak forest on the mountain is lush and green in spring, and silkworms lay cocoons in autumn to increase income. The oak tree has become not only a “guardian tree” for the ecological environment, but also a “money tree” for the people.

AAA

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