Duck-rice symbiosis green farming model brings double harvest to Liumao Township, Jixi City

Hu Weijun, a rice farmer in Group 2 of Lianhua Village, Liumao Township, Jixi City, released 400 Cherry Valley ducks into his paddy field. This is the new duck-rice co-cultivation model implemented this year by the Hongyang Rice Planting Farmers' Professional Cooperative.

The duck-rice co-cultivation model is one of the ecological three-dimensional combined farming models. By providing a good environment for symbiosis between animals and plants, the two depend on each other and benefit each other. Excellent rice varieties with compact plant type, strong tillering ability and strong resistance are selected. Ducks are released in mid-June after the seedlings have recovered and temperatures rise, with the ducks around 45 days old, and the ducks are collected at the early stage of rice grain filling. The "rice-duck symbiosis" planting model uses ducks to prey on pests instead of pesticides, uses ducks to eat weeds instead of herbicides, uses duck manure as organic fertilizer instead of chemical fertilizers, and uses the ducks' continuous activity to produce a tilling and water-mixing effect that stimulates rice growth. Through this combination of planting and breeding, rice production is promoted to shift from mainly relying on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides to giving full play to the comprehensive ecological functions of paddy fields, and large-scale intensive breeding is shifted to natural breeding that better conforms to the living habits of ducks. The ducks raised in this way better meet consumer requirements, and two kinds of green food are produced: high-quality rice and high-quality duck meat grown without chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. Raising ducks with the field and promoting rice with ducks allows ducks and rice to grow together. It is not only green, ecological and environmentally friendly, but can also achieve a double harvest of rice and ducks.

Since the beginning of this year, the Party Committee and government of Liumao Township have vigorously supported and actively guided cooperatives to adjust the agricultural planting and breeding structure, develop multiple planting and breeding models, vigorously promote the "rice-duck symbiosis" green farming technology, drive farmers to participate in duck-rice co-cultivation production, further strengthen and refine Liumao's green rice and duck industries, and achieve green double growth of rice and ducks.