Shrimp and crab farming helps Shen Dejin achieve wealth a second time

Shen Dejin is a large-scale farmer who has been engaged in fish farming for 20 years, making him a truly renowned skilled farmer.

In his early years, Shen Dejin farmed fish in Yixing, Jiangsu. "At that time, I raised more than 1000 mu of fish, and the fish market was still good," he said. In Yixing, there were all kinds of farmers, and through exchanges he learned a great deal. Year after year, fish prices kept falling, and by 2011 Shen Dejin could no longer continue fish farming, so he thought of returning to his hometown, Huzhou. It happened that at this time a series of policies promoted by Lüshan Township for attracting investment appealed to him, and after some consideration, he and his wife came to Lüshan Township for a second venture.

In this venture, Shen Dejin contracted more than 200 mu of ponds, with a total investment of 2 million yuan, and began raisingChinese mitten crabs, which had a very good market.

Previously, Shen Dejin had never raised Chinese mitten crabs, but relying on the techniques he learned from other masters while farming fish in Yixing, he boldly got started. Gradually, in the process of raising crabs, he also developed his own set of farming experience. "In raising Chinese mitten crabs, aquatic plants are the key. When the aquatic plants are good, the water quality is good, and then the crabs are raised well," he said. After some time, Shen Dejin's crabs were raised better and better, but he was not satisfied with that. During trips to inspect other operations, he also saw the advanced farming technique of co-culturing crabs with freshwater shrimp.

In fact, in order to improve the economic benefits of aquaculture, technological innovation is the main solution, and co-culture is one of them.

After returning from his inspections, Shen Dejin immediately adopted a new model of co-culturing crabs and freshwater shrimp in his ponds, and over time he gained some of his own farming experience. He explained that the most important thing in co-culturing crabs and freshwater shrimp is still their growing environment. The growing environment requires selecting ponds with good water quality and convenient drainage and irrigation, with a water level of 1-1.5 m. Before stocking, the pond must be thoroughly cleared to prevent wild miscellaneous fish from entering, so as to increase the survival rate. Second, putting in good and sufficient seedlings is the key to achieving high yields. Freshwater shrimp are stocked at 20 jin per mu, and Chinese mitten crabs at 1800 per mu. In terms of feeding, both freshwater shrimp and Chinese mitten crabs are omnivorous, leaning toward animal food. Feeding should be scientific, that is, fixed in quality, quantity, time, and location, ensuring feed quality, and prohibiting the use of moldy and spoiled feed.

Farmers must also learn to adapt to circumstances and be flexible in actual operation. For example, when weather changes occur, Shen Dejin said: "The response measures sometimes require increasing oxygen, and sometimes require pumping water from deep wells, and so on."

Of course, one must know how to farm and also how to sell, so as to achieve relatively high economic benefits. During the farming process, Shen Dejin kept abreast of market conditions at all times and grasped market trends. By harvest season, Shen Dejin's freshwater shrimp could sell for 35 yuan per jin, and in autumn and winter could even sell for 50 yuan per jin. This year, 3-liang female Chinese mitten crabs even sold for 150 yuan per jin. The products were sold to Changzhou, Yixing, and other places in Jiangsu. Through wholesale markets, funds were quickly recovered, bringing him 3 million yuan in wealth income each year. Five years passed quietly, and Shen Dejin successfully became wealthy again.