People in Pitou village, Dianbai district, Maoming have been raising coconut worms this year, which has increased people's incomes and has helped contribute to the village's rural alleviation efforts.

Coconut worms are also called coconut weevils. They live in coconut trees and eat the youngest part of the plants, so they contain plenty of healthy proteins. However, they are only as big as an adult's index finger, about 3 to 5 centimeters long, and light yellow on their whole body.

Coconut worms. [Photo/Maoming Daily]

Zhang Qiang and Zhang Lu are the leaders of the coconut worm farming work in Pitou village. In February, they tried to raise coconut worms. Three batches of coconut worms were tested, with more than 7,000 pots. However, many difficulties and twists were experienced, with several setbacks costing them more than 100,000 yuan ($14,418).

People in Pitou village raise coconut worms. [Photo/Maoming Daily]

Some insects died in large numbers due to high temperature, some larvae developed slowly due to pH imbalance, while some other insects hatched due to unsatisfactory sanitation conditions, which affected the yield and lead to a serious imbalance in the proportion of seed insects.

In May, after the village started formal coconut worm farming, nearly 6,000 pots of coconut worms have been raised. On average, coconut worms can provide one to two jobs per 1,000 pots of worms. To date, six households of villagers have been employed.

In the past, Pitou's industrial development has lagged behind. In addition, the conditions for the development of traditional agricultural cultivation in the village were also poor. There are 1,449 registered households in Pitou, with a population of 7,003. As most of its young residents leave the village to find work, its permanent population is less than 4,000 and there is a need for employment opportunities in the village or nearby.