Flowing water fish farming brings in gold and silver, farmers are busy getting rich

In March, the Dabie Mountains are cold one moment and warm the next. A spell of rain had just passed, the weather began to clear up, and the temperature gradually rose. At the Chengyi Zhongjia Family Farm by the Liangting River, a small group of tourists who had come to visit and learn were drawn by the colorful goldfish in the ponds, letting out one exclamation of admiration after another. The air in the Dabie Mountain area is fresh, and the sunlight is clear and bright. Under the shining sun, thousands of goldfish were red as fire, black as ink, and white as jade. The exclamations of the crowd occasionally startled the quiet school of fish, and now and then fish darted out of the water, sending out ripples.

This is the flowing water fish farming base of Huang Shengjia, a post-80s veteran. Huang Shengjia told the reporter that after leaving the army he had always followed his uncle in fish farming, and that in the past fish were all raised in the traditional way. Last year, Yuexi County organized a trip to Xiuning County, Huangshan City, to study flowing water fish farming projects. The Dabie Mountains and the mountainous area of southern Anhui have similar geographical conditions, so Huang Shengjia and his uncle Huang Shuangyi went along with the study group to Xiuning County.

"I've been raising fish for decades. The density of flowing water fish farming is dozens of times greater than that of traditional fish farming. How could that be possible? It must be bragging, there must be some exaggeration!" Before the trip, Huang Shuangyi absolutely did not believe it, but after seeing that almost every household in Xiuning County was doing high-density flowing water fish farming, old Huang became completely convinced. "This is incredible! If you make the water flow, the fish yield can increase dozens of times." After returning home, Huang Shuangyi could not wait to renovate his fish ponds. Seeing the broad prospects, his nephew Huang Shengjia also set up his own operation, investing 180,000 yuan to build a flowing water fish farming base by the Liangting River.

"This place used to be farmland converted from river beach. Because the soil quality was poor and the sand content was high, the fields had very low yields, and in recent years many river beach fields have been abandoned. After coming back from Xiuning, I transferred the fields from impoverished households, letting them join with their land as shares, so that when there are profits they can share in the dividends. This has helped them increase their incomes." Huang Shengjia told the reporter that he built a fence in the upper reaches of the Liangting River to channel part of the river water into his fish ponds. Each pond was designed with an inlet and an outlet, so the river water is constantly flowing. Because flowing water has a high oxygen content, more fish can be raised per unit volume of water. Now 1 cubic meter of water can raise 40 to 50 jin of fish. At present, the Chengyi Zhongjia Family Farm that Huang Shengjia has built by the Liangting River has more than 30 mu of water surface. Different ponds raise different fish. Besides the four major Chinese carps, young Huang also raises a pond of ornamental goldfish.

Huang Shengjia's uncle Huang Shuangyi did some calculations for the reporter. After returning from his studies, he converted part of his fish ponds to the flowing water model according to the Xiuning method. Up to now, the flowing water fish ponds have reached more than 2,000 sq m. Previously, about one mu of water surface could raise just over 1,000 jin of fish, but now 20 sq m of water surface is equivalent to the fish-raising capacity of a one-mu pond. Because the water flows, the fish are of good quality and sell for a much higher price. Previously, one jin of fish cost about seven or eight yuan, but now fish can sell for as much as several dozen yuan per jin. Unit yield has increased dozens of times, and fish prices have also risen several times. By this reckoning, this year is sure to be a bumper year. It saves land, makes management convenient, and also saves a great deal of labor cost. Flowing water fish farming is a green, environmentally friendly, and economical fish farming model. "Flowing water fish farming is not like traditional fish farming, which must have a very large water surface to work. A few sq m or a dozen or so sq m will do, so its reach is much wider. Farmers can dig a pond in their own courtyard, and as long as the inlet and outlet are made to keep the water flowing, every household can achieve courtyard fish farming. That is how Xiuning County is, with almost every household doing courtyard fish farming." Huang Shuangyi said that after his experiment succeeds, he will provide the technology free of charge to surrounding impoverished households to help them take the path of "courtyard-style" flowing water fish farming.

This is a new path for poverty alleviation that requires little investment, brings high income, is very flexible, and is sustainable. A relevant person in charge of Baimao Township said that the local government will make developing the mountain spring flowing water fish farming industry a main focus of targeted poverty alleviation and targeted poverty eradication, encourage large aquaculture operators to adopt the "company + professional cooperative + farmer" model, and give priority to admitting impoverished households as members. The leading demonstration and technology dissemination of large aquaculture operators will surely trigger a "butterfly effect." Within one to two years, flowing water fish farming projects will bloom everywhere in the township.