Freshwater farming of marine shrimp lets farmers live by a lucrative formula
"Blessed by the Shixi stream, the shrimp are lively." When Wu Guotao arrived in Sizhuang Village, Houbai Town, Jurong City, to serve as a college-graduate village official, he immediately fell in love with this village where mountains and waters teem with spirit. Sizhuang Village is rich in water resources, and aquaculture is the village's main industry; Wu Guotao graduated from Southwest University in aquaculture science, and this match with his specialty made him eager to go all out, so that the common people could live off the water and truly prosper.
Farming marine shrimp in freshwater holds great promise
The moment Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) is mentioned, Wu Guotao beams with smiles; he firmly believes that Pacific white shrimp is the source of prosperity for the villagers of Sizhuang. He told us: "Artificially farmed Pacific white shrimp grows quickly, and can grow from natural sea areas to freshwater ponds, allowing pure freshwater, brackish water, and seawater farming models, thus breaking through regional limits; in addition, Pacific white shrimp also has the advantages of tolerating high temperatures, strong disease resistance, and omnivorous feeding habits, with a low threshold for farming requirements, making it easy for farmers to get started."
His confidence comes not only from the Pacific white shrimp itself, but more from his precise grasp of the market. Marine shrimp is a fresh, cheap, high-protein "seafood." The finished white shrimp produced is mainly aimed at hotels, guesthouses, farm resorts, and the general public, with very large daily demand, belonging to the "seafood of the common people." Market research also shows that the surrounding areas of Zhenjiang and Nanjing rarely have large-scale farming bases for this kind of "marine shrimp farmed in freshwater," so large-scale farming of Pacific white shrimp in Sizhuang has broad prospects.
Guarding against risks, increasing value and securing harvests
Wu Guotao knows well that the money of farming households is all hard-earned, and cannot withstand setbacks. To reduce the farming risks for farmers, he did plenty of homework before farming. Wu Guotao told us that whether farming succeeds mainly depends on three steps: pond clearing - seedling selection - feeding. Pond clearing means, before filling with water and releasing seedlings, using quicklime or other drugs to kill harmful organisms in the pond, removing excess organic waste at the bottom of the pond, so as to increase the survival rate and yield of seedlings; seedling selection means choosing Pacific white shrimp seedlings that are robust and lively, uniform in size, clean on the body surface, full in the intestine, responsive, highly transparent in body, free of lesions, and strong in vitality; in daily management, patrol the pond every day in the morning, at noon, in the evening, and at midnight, observing water color, the activity and growth of the shrimp, and the satiation rate, so as to adjust the amount of bait fed and whether to turn on the aerator.
However, since Pacific white shrimp is farmed in the open air, the biggest risk is weather, with many constraints from weather factors, and force majeure factors must also be considered; finally, prevention is needed against severe weather causing disease outbreaks. For this kind of force majeure risk, Wu Guotao also has his own countermeasures, mainly using greenhouses to solve dependence on weather and reduce the risk of natural disasters. The method is not difficult, but the effect is obvious.
The shrimp seedlings are mainly air-freighted from the coastal areas of Hainan and Guangdong, which invisibly increases farming costs. At the same time, small shrimp seedlings that have traveled long distances are too fatigued, which is not conducive to farming and may even die, also increasing farming risks. Wu Guotao felt that destiny should be held in one's own hands, and he actively explored "local seedling breeding" to reduce risks and secure harvests.
Demonstration and guidance, win-win cooperation
Although Sizhuang Village is mainly based on aquaculture, most farmers' farming methods and varieties still remain at the level of the 1990s. On the basis of accurately positioning the market and mastering farming technology, Wu Guotao promptly established the Sizhuang Village Farming Professional Cooperative, spreading good varieties and excellent farming techniques. Subsequently, Wu Guotao established Jurong Lvhuoyuan Agricultural Products Sales Co., Ltd., packaging and selling the aquatic products of his project together with all agricultural products in the village, establishing a formal sales channel for the village's agricultural products. At present, the cooperative has driven 18 surrounding farming households to farm shrimp, and driven more than 60 villagers to find local employment.
When talking about the cooperative's future development, Wu Guotao has a well-thought-out plan, saying: "As the scale of farming expands, there will be more and more entrepreneurial farmers, and supporting industries will also gradually be established; related seedling farms, feed factories, and frozen processing plants have all been put on the planning agenda. All-round, industrialized development will effectively drive surrounding people to start businesses and find employment, increase people's income, and achieve common prosperity."