What are the market prospects for rice field eel farming?
Market Prospects for Rice Field Eel Farming
The rice field eel (Monopterus albus) is a delicious delicacy and a nourishing health food much loved by consumers at home and abroad, and it sells very well on both domestic and international markets. According to surveys, the current annual demand in the domestic market is nearly 3 million tons, Japan and South Korea need to import 200,000 tons each year, and demand in the Hong Kong, China and Macao, China regions is also showing an upward trend. At the same time, because the eel's body is rich in DHA, EPA and other medicinal components, it has enormous development potential in deep processing and health product development. At present, the main sources supplying the rice field eel market come from wild capture and a certain amount of off-season stockpiling and holding of wild eels.
As for wild eel resources, apart from Sichuan, Hunan and Hubei, where a certain amount is still distributed, resources in other regions have been largely destroyed, and they are expected to gradually die out in 4-5 years. The growth in demand and the reduction of resources are making the market supply of rice field eels increasingly tight, and prices are rising steadily. At present, the price of rice field eels on the Japanese market is even higher than that of eels. In winter, the daily supply-demand gap in the Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou area reaches more than 100 tons; the wholesale price of rice field eels over 100 grams in size is 60-70 yuan per kilogram, those over 50 grams are 40-50 yuan, and those under 50 grams are 20-30 yuan. Many factors indicate that artificial farming of rice field eels has broad profit potential.
Development Trends of Rice Field Eel Farming
1. Seedling production will achieve mass scale. Although current rice field eel seedling production is far from satisfactory, it has attracted great attention from the relevant leading departments and research institutions. According to the latest information, many provinces in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have made rice field eel seedling production a key work item and a target to be tackled. For example, in the autumn of 2000 the Science and Technology Department of Hubei Province carried out project bidding across the whole province on the issues of rice field eel seedlings and feed. According to expert predictions, the problem of mass production of rice field eel seedlings will at least be solved to a certain extent in the near future.
2. The entities investing in rice field eel operations will become diversified. Modern large-scale production cannot do without the support of large and medium-sized enterprises and financial groups, and the same is true for rice field eel production. The relatively good returns from rice field eel farming have begun to attract the attention of businesses, and some businesses have already begun to invest in this industry. It is believed that in recent years even better enterprises, financial groups and businesses will enter the rice field eel industry, which will eventually solve the current problem of insufficient investment and achieve diversified investment.
3. Production forms will achieve scaled intensification. At present, factory-based intensive eel farming has already taken a fairly good initial shape. With the participation of social investment forces and the realization of diversified investment, scattered small-scale production forms will be replaced by factory-based and intensive production with batch and scale operations. At present, the work of the Dazhong Farming Company in Jianyang City, Sichuan, which specializes in the rice field eel industry, and Wanlong Eel Industry Co., Ltd. in Huainan, Anhui, is quite effective.
4. Research, production and processing will achieve integration. Achieving the integration of research, production and processing is an inevitable trend of modern commodity production. Directly combining scientific and technological achievements and technical patents with production and processing, and directly converting them into productive forces, is an inevitable requirement of development. At present, work in this area has just begun, and vigorous development can be expected in the near future.
5. Circulation and marketing will achieve international trade orientation. With the acceleration of China's pace of joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), it is objectively required that rice field eels participate in international trade operations. In fact, from the 1970s to the early 1980s, China's rice field eel export trade was organized and operated uniformly by the state foreign trade departments, while starting in the late 1980s the foreign trade departments relaxed the unified export management rights for varieties such as pearls and rice field eels. Current exports are “each fighting for itself” and “done in bits and pieces.” With the participation of businesses and financial groups in the rice field eel industry, international trade orientation in circulation and marketing can be expected soon. This will also promote China's rice field eel farming industry into a brand-new stage of development.
Development Paths for Rice Field Eel Farming
1. Increase investment in rice field eel research and strive to increase scientific and technological reserves. Investment in research includes investment of research funds and investment of research manpower. The main content of research should include studies of the physiological and ecological characteristics of rice field eels, studies of the optimal environment for rice field eel production, and research on seedling breeding and mass production.
2. Advocate healthy farming and ecological farming. As mentioned above, with the development of production, rice field eel diseases are showing a trend of diversification and complication. Relying solely on medication for prevention and treatment is not the best way to solve this problem. Forms of farming such as healthy eel farming and ecological eel farming should be advocated to minimize the degree of drug residues in the eel body. This is beneficial to people's health and, more importantly, beneficial to export earnings.
3. Use laws and regulations to protect natural rice field eel resources. First, the amount caught and the market size must be strictly controlled; second, a reproduction protection period must be determined, banning the capture of rice field eels during the eel breeding period. At the beginning of the new century, the state made appropriate amendments to the Fisheries Law, and rice field eel resources must be protected in accordance with the law. Of course, an important aspect of protecting natural rice field eel resources is still to accelerate research progress on artificial breeding of rice field eels. Only when artificial seedlings reach mass supply can the indiscriminate capture of natural rice field eel seedlings be better reduced.
4. Carry out factory farming and raise the degree of intensification. Learning advanced eel farming experience from abroad and vigorously carrying out factory farming is one of the future directions of eel farming. The special habits of rice field eels, especially their habit of adapting to shallow water, make them relatively suitable for factory-based three-dimensional farming, and even more suitable for intensive farming under conditions of artificial temperature regulation and control. Many things need to be addressed in this area, such as water quality, water temperature and dissolved oxygen in the environment, as well as the development of complete artificial compound feed.
5. Strengthen research on deep-processed products and increase the capacity for export earnings. With the acceleration of China's pace of joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), it is very important to broaden sales of rice field eel products on the international market. At present, China's export products are still mainly live rice field eels. In the future, many areas must be studied, such as health foods and fast foods made from rice field eels. In addition, strengthening trademark registration for products is also extremely urgent.
In short, the development of China's rice field eel industry needs the support of social forces, and also needs researchers to redouble their efforts to raise the scientific and technological content of the industry. It must also take the path of intensification, commercialization and internationalization. Only in this way can China's rice field eel industry enter an era of rapid, sustained, stable and healthy development and inject new vitality into China's aquaculture industry.