Hairy Crab Farming Helps Farmers Open the Door to Prosperity
Right now, although it is still some time before hairy crabs hit the market, Hu Zhenyi of Hugou Village, Longjing Township, Pingqiao District, cannot take it easy. Old Hu has been raising crabs for 9 years, and his more than 100 mu of crab ponds are kept in perfect order, and it looks like another "bumper year." But what really keeps him busy and weighs on his mind are the 8 poor households he is helping. Are their hairy crabs growing well? Have they run into any new problems? With these questions in mind, Hu Zhenyi and the reporter visited the poor households on August 29.
According to the publicity committee member of Longjing Township, Hu Zhenyi's Hongshan Lake Hairy Crab Ecological Breeding Base is located in Hugou Village, Longjing Township, Pingqiao District. Having learned crab-farming techniques in Yangcheng Lake, Jiangsu, he returned home in 2007 to start his own business, and his crab-farming venture has flourished locally.
Getting rich without forgetting his neighbors! Having grown rich first through crab farming, Hu Zhenyi gradually turned his attention to several households in the village that were struggling. In February this year, Hu Zhenyi made a "military pledge" in front of the township Party secretary: he would use his skills to lead his fellow villagers in throwing off the "hat" of poverty. After that, stopping by the poor households' ponds every few days became Hu Zhenyi's habit. No matter how busy he was, he always made time to go, saying, "Since I've helped them, I have to help them to the end, until they are out of poverty." Every time he went, he always brought something, sometimes materials he thought were good, sometimes a few bags of newly purchased feed, but what his "students" welcomed most was, of course, him, the "living dictionary" of crab farming.
"Old Hu really gives us his all!" Speaking of Hu Zhenyi, the poor household Li Daocheng praised him again and again. "From land requisition and pond digging, to releasing the crabs, to how to disinfect and mix feed, every blade of grass, every pipe, every net around the 20-mu crab pond owes something to him." Li Daocheng's family burden is heavy, and he had no source of income, so Hu Zhenyi, without a second thought, advanced him tens of thousands of yuan to use first.
At the end of June, a rainstorm hit, and Li Daocheng's crab pond was breached. Overnight, the crabs in 10 mu of the crab pond escaped completely. It was too late to buy more crab seedlings, and finding the ones that had escaped was even more impossible! Just when Li Daocheng was about to cry with no tears left, Old Hu once again stepped forward. As soon as the rain eased a little, he took him to surround the crab pond with nets while explaining how to better prevent such things in advance next time. Afterwards, he even shared some crab seedlings from his own pond with Li Daocheng. "Old Li's pond here is estimated to yield 200 jin per mu, and one jin can sell for 60 yuan. Poverty is in sight of being escaped!" Hu Zhenyi, who was checking the water conditions of the crab pond while introducing us to the market situation, was especially happy. The technical training was almost done, but over the course of a year, he had lost more than ten jin of weight.
Relying on the abundant water resources of Hongshan Reservoir and their hardworking hands, Hu Zhenyi, through technical, ecological and industrialized farming, has made Hongshan Lake hairy crabs a prosperity-creating industry for Hugou Village and a "golden key" that opens the door for villagers to escape poverty and grow rich.