Snail farming has broad prospects: small snails open up a big market
Early in the morning on September 6, Liu Kuansheng, a farmer from Xiangshui Town, Xiangshui County, closed a deal, having connected a company in Beijing with 5 tons of live white jade snails for deep processing. Liu Kuansheng has been engaged in the snail production and sales industry for more than 20 years, persistently following the model of "association + cooperative + company + farmers," vigorously developing the snail industry, leading farmers to get rich together, and turning small snails into a big industry.
Liu Kuansheng first "formed a bond" with snails in the 1980s. "White jade snail meat is white and delicate, high in protein and low in fat, cheap to farm, and simple to manage. It is the ingredient for traditional grand dishes in countries such as France." Liu Kuansheng believes that the white jade snail is an excellent courtyard circular agriculture and low-carbon economy agriculture project with huge market space, so he plunged headlong into this industry.
After years of development, Liu Kuansheng not only farms snails himself, but has also established a snail seedling breeding base in Xiangshui and joined the China Snail Industry Association. He signs minimum protected-price buyback contracts with farmers; the farmers are responsible for farming, while the association is responsible for free technical guidance throughout the process and cash buyback of all products.
Driven by Liu Kuansheng, many local farmers in Xiangshui have also gotten rich by farming snails. In 2012, he cooperated with others to establish the Zhongwo White Jade Snail Farming Professional Cooperative, developing dozens of farming households to raise snails in Youai Village, Hepu Village and other places in Shuanggong Town, Xiangshui County, with an average annual income increase of more than 5,000 yuan per household. "Last week, I also joined the cooperative, wholeheartedly following Boss Liu to farm snails and get rich," said Shen Youjun, a villager from Hepu Village, happily. More than 10 farming households joined the cooperative along with him, and everyone is full of confidence in the future.
Liu Kuansheng said that the current market demand for white jade snails is very large, and the cooperative plans to develop products such as frozen meat, snail spawn sauce, easy-open foods and tourism foods to increase the added value of snails and create greater economic benefits.