Raising Loaches in Muddy Paddy Fields: Fu Rensheng Reaps a Bumper Harvest

He returned to his hometown with the savings he had accumulated from years of working away, specifically to use muddy paddy fields to farm Taiwan eel loaches. After succeeding in his own farming endeavor, he provided farming techniques to the villagers free of charge, driving more people to join the farming ranks and helping everyone get rich together. His name is Fu Rensheng, a farmer from Xiejiacun Village, Pengtian Township, Linchuan District. In March 2014, Fu Rensheng invested 200,000 yuan to contract 10 mu of muddy paddy fields that no one in the village had planted for years, and introduced Taiwan eel loaches for farming. In 2015, he invested more than 800,000 yuan again to expand the farming scale to 100 mu, and registered and established a company. Under his leadership, more than 20 impoverished farming households in more than 10 townships including Pengtian, Changkai, ShangdunDu, and Luozhen are engaged in Taiwan eel loach farming, with an area of more than 300 mu, achieving an annual output value of more than 6 million yuan.

Fu Rensheng and his wife had always worked in Zhejiang. Although their income was fairly decent, Fu Rensheng always thought that working away was not a long-term solution, so he learned farming techniques while working. During the 2014 Spring Festival, Fu Rensheng returned home and found that the village had quite a few muddy paddy fields. “The mountains and water in my hometown are good. Why not use these abandoned fields for farming?” Fu Rensheng came up with the idea of returning home to start a business in farming. After conducting research, in March 2014 he invested more than 200,000 yuan to contract 10 mu of muddy paddy fields in the village, specifically to farm Taiwan eel loaches.

In order to better farm Taiwan eel loaches, Fu Rensheng created a biological water fertilization technique. After improving the water quality through this technique, large amounts of plankton and beneficial algae are produced in the water. The loaches that eat these plankton and beneficial algae do not need to be fed feed, yet their meat is more delicious and delicate. After 4 months of growth, Fu Rensheng's Taiwan eel loaches were growing promisingly. The large ones exceeded two liang, and the small ones also weighed more than one liang. Soon, Fu Rensheng's Taiwan eel loaches sold out completely, all sold to Shanghai, at a price of 36 yuan/kg, earning a profit of nearly 100,000 yuan.

Having tasted the sweetness of success, Fu Rensheng decided to expand the farming scale. In August 2015, with the strong help of the township government, he successfully transferred 90 mu of wasteland and built more than 40 farming ponds. In order to save on farming costs, he also paid out of his own pocket to study Taiwan eel loach breeding techniques in Dongyang. “Taiwan eel loach fry are relatively expensive. If I breed them myself, the cost will be greatly reduced.” Fu Rensheng said. After several months of study and experimentation, the self-breeding and self-raising of Taiwan eel loaches was successful. This year, the Taiwan eel loaches he farms are in short supply, and the price is also rising.

Fu Rensheng said that farming Taiwan eel loaches can yield a profit of 10,000 yuan per mu per year. It is a wealth-building project with low investment and high profit, very suitable for farmers in his hometown to farm. In order to lead more villagers to wealth, Fu Rensheng established the Linchuan District Taiwan Eel Loach Farming Cooperative, providing farming techniques to villagers free of charge and leading everyone to get rich together. Fu Rensheng first supported the impoverished households in the village in farming. At present, 8 farming households in the village are already engaged in Taiwan eel loach farming.

The township governments of the district have also, in conjunction with the currently carried-out “Four Entries, Four Connections, Four Helps” activity, gone deep into the homes of some impoverished households to support them in farming Taiwan eel loaches. (Linchuan Evening News)