Mixed fish and turtle farming puts Wang Xiaoyao on the road to prosperity

Wang Xiaoyao, the 54-year-old "farm owner" of the Xiaoyao Family Farm in Kaihua, Zhejiang, received an order from a major client in Hangzhou, who booked 10 tons of clear-water fish and 200 kg of soft-shelled turtles in one go. "Looks like I'll have to expand the farming scale next year too!" Wang Xiaoyao said to himself.

This was the scene when the reporter visited the Xiaoyao Family Farm in Mahouwu, Xiajieshou Village, Huabu Town, Kaihua County, Zhejiang Province.

Fish ponds were laid out along the mountain contours like terraced fields, 12 in total, large and small, with a farming area of more than 120 mu. According to the introduction, clear-water fish and soft-shelled turtles are raised together in the large ponds. "This is an innovative aquaculture method. The water source is mountain spring water flowing down from the mountain. The clear-water fish mainly eat grass, while the soft-shelled turtles eat naturally occurring small wild fish and snails. They are ecologically free-range soft-shelled turtles, and their meat is top-grade, with a flavor similar to wild soft-shelled turtles, so each kilogram sells for 400 yuan." Wang Xiaoyao spoke of them as if counting his family treasures.

It is understood that as early as 2009, Wang Xiaoyao and another 4 villagers jointly founded the Kaihua Selenium Land Fishery Professional Cooperative, transferred more than 300 mu of mountain land in Mahouwu, and engaged in aquaculture. Due to poor management, the cooperative suffered serious losses, and the 4 villagers withdrew their shares and left. Wang Xiaoyao was unwilling to give up and decided to continue on his own. In early 2012, he established the Kaihua Xiaoyao Family Farm, moved his bedding and kitchen utensils to the farm, and ate, lived and started the business together with his wife. That year, he borrowed 200,000 yuan from the local credit union to specialize in farming aquatic products. To ensure the quality of the clear-water fish, he planted 50 mu of ryegrass and Sudan grass in the mountain land as fish feed. Then, he purchased 6,000 young soft-shelled turtles, each the size of a one-yuan coin, from Zhoushan and put them into the large ponds for clear-water fish to let them grow and reproduce on their own. After 5 years of effort, the large clear-water fish have now grown to more than 10 jin each, and the large soft-shelled turtles have grown to 3 jin each.

In 2016, Xiaoyao Family Farm borrowed another 230,000 yuan from the local credit union to expand the scale of fish and turtle farming. At present, more than 10 tons of clear-water fish such as grass carp, crucian carp and black carp, and 6 tons of soft-shelled turtles have been sold to Hangzhou and the county, with total revenue reaching more than 800,000 yuan.