Snails and loaches co-cultured: Changde, Hunan finds a new path to prosperity

It took the brothers Zhou Wensheng and Zhou Wenli of Xizhou Village, Xizhou Township, Xihu Management District, Changde City, Hunan, less than 2 years to go from renovating their own 25 mu of low-yield fields to building a 450-mu specialty aquaculture base.

On March 15, walking into the specialty aquaculture base of the brothers Zhou Wensheng and Zhou Wenli in Xizhou Village, one could see several excavators working busily in the low-lying paddy fields beside the village road, building breeding ponds. "Building ponds for snails and loaches takes only two steps: first, dig the field to a depth of about one meter so the snails and loaches can overwinter; second, raise and widen the field ridges to keep the loaches from escaping." Looking at the breeding base about to be completed and put into production, Zhou Wensheng could not help recalling the hardships of starting the business.

In the first half of 2014, Zhou Wensheng, then village head of Xizhou Village, learned while exploring ways to make the most of the "agriculture" theme that the specialty farming model of co-culturing snails with loaches had been very successful elsewhere. "Easy to manage, low investment, easy to sell." These main features summed up by others deeply won over Zhou Wensheng.

"Actually, the neighboring village already had successful experience with co-culturing snails and loaches, just on a small scale with little profit," Zhou Wensheng said. At the time, his family had a total of 26 mu of low-yield paddy fields growing rice, with an annual income of less than 600 yuan per mu. If the land could be pooled to raise loaches and snails, first, he could test the "local adaptability" of this specialty farming path himself, and second, if it succeeded, the family's income would rise greatly.

Zhou Wensheng, quick and decisive in action, immediately brought in his younger brother Zhou Wenli to invest nearly 30,000 yuan together, harden the family's 26 mu of low-yield fields and convert them into breeding ponds. They also bought 500 kg of snails and 300 kg of loach fry, and invited a master from Shaoyang for 2 months of technical guidance. "Based on the neighboring village's farming experience, to profit from co-culturing snails and loaches, you must farm at scale." After mastering the technique, the Zhou brothers discussed it with their family, took out all their savings, and invested again to rent 22 mu of fish ponds from Xihu Fishery to expand the farming area.

Nearly 50 mu of breeding ponds needed only the two brothers and their family to manage. "With snails co-cultured with loaches, there is no need to feed other feed, because snails can enrich the plankton and aquatic plants in the water, providing natural feed for the loaches, while the droppings excreted by the loaches can serve as feed for the snails." Zhou Wensheng said day-to-day management is very simple: just disinfect the water once at the beginning of the year and occasionally put in some rapeseed cake as feed, which did not affect his work in the village.

In the second half of 2014, just as the first batch of snail and loach fry was about to mature, heavy rain fell continuously, causing the breeding ponds to rise, and most of the loaches raised for half a year escaped. In the end, by the end of the year, the 48 mu of breeding ponds earned only 80,000 yuan from snails. Unexpectedly, in early 2015, Xihu Fishery took back the 22 mu of fish ponds, and the Zhou brothers' specialty aquaculture suffered blow after blow.

Faced with setbacks, the Zhou brothers did not give up. "As long as there are still fry, there is hope for breeding." Finally, in 2015, the brothers' hard work paid off: apart from those kept for seed, the 26 mu of breeding ponds sold snails for more than 70,000 yuan and loaches for more than 50,000 yuan.

With funds in hand, the two brothers continued to expand their investment. With the support of the Xizhou Township government, this year the brothers transferred more than 400 mu of land in Xizhou Village and Xingfu Village in total to co-culture snails and loaches. Even more gratifying, the Zhou brothers' success set an example for nearby farmers to prosper, and 6 farming households from Tongxin Village and Xihu Town came one after another to learn from them and join in testing the specialty aquaculture of "snails + loaches."

This year, the 450 mu of breeding ponds is about to go into production, and Zhou Wensheng already has plans for future development: "In 2016, we will apply to establish a family farm, and at the same time continue to open up sales markets, striving to make 'snails + loaches' aquaculture one of the specialty industries of modern agriculture in Xihu."