College-graduate village official in Nantong, Jiangsu uses Internet Plus to open up the Australian lobster market
Jiangsu college-graduate village official Ju Wenyou at an Australian lobster farming base.
Australian lobster is a must-have dish on high-end dining tables, and its price has long remained high. In Jiongduo Village, Yazhou Town, Hai'an County, Nantong City, Jiangsu, there is the largest Australian lobster farming base north of the Yangtze River. Since mid-December, it has been bustling with people coming and going, as the first harvest of Australian lobsters here has hit the market. One of the entrepreneurial partners of the farming base is Ju Wenyou, a college-graduate village official recruited by Jiangsu Province and currently secretary of the Party branch of Jiongduo Village.
Attracting investment brings the largest Australian lobster farming base north of the Yangtze River
Ju Wenyou is 28 years old this year. During investment promotion work, by a chance opportunity, he became acquainted with a young boss engaged in aquaculture, Shi Haoping. Shi Haoping is also only 28 years old, yet has about 5 years of farming experience. The two people of the same age quickly became friends who talked about everything, discussing ideals, life and entrepreneurship.
At the beginning of 2015, when Ju Wenyou invited Shi Haoping to Yazhou Town, Shi Haoping found that the water, soil, air and other environmental conditions here were very good, especially suitable for Australian lobster farming. After discussing the matter with Ju Wenyou, the two, who both wanted to accomplish something big, hit it off immediately. To verify this accurately, Ju Wenyou contacted the Nantong Environmental Monitoring Station and collected local water and soil samples. The test results showed that the pH value, ammonia nitrogen content, algae phase and other factors of the water in Yazhou Town all met the requirements for Australian lobster farming. At the same time, the sandy soil in the area naturally has filtering properties, which helps absorb impurities and dead or diseased matter in the water.
Australian lobsters farmed by Jiangsu college-graduate village official Ju Wenyou.
Opening up the market by taking the e-commerce route
Because Australian lobster farming techniques are difficult to master, the market has long been in short supply. "Before the Australian lobsters hit the market, we promoted them through the Internet, and the effect was very good. Several distributors in Beijing and Shanghai scrambled to place orders. There is no problem with sales!" Ju Wenyou introduced confidently. It is understood that in recent days, their first harvest yielded nearly 10,000 jin of Australian lobsters, with sales exceeding 1 million.
Speaking of next year's plans, Ju Wenyou told reporters that he also intends to apply for pollution-free agricultural product certification, register a trademark, raise the profile of the lobsters, and open a shop on an online e-commerce platform to sell Australian lobsters.
Australian lobsters farmed by Jiangsu college-graduate village official Ju Wenyou.
Raising funds and starting construction, the largest scale in central Jiangsu
The huge market for Australian lobsters deeply attracted these two young men. After careful planning, the two decided to get started right away. The farm was planned to cover an area of 120 mu, with a total of 6 shrimp ponds, and total investment was expected to reach 10 million yuan, with first-phase investment expected to be 3 million yuan. The two enterprising young men did not hesitate at all. Ju Wenyou persuaded his family and took out more than 500,000 yuan in total savings from himself and his family, while Shi Haoping also took out more than 2 million yuan accumulated from years of entrepreneurship. After the initial funds were in place, with the coordination of the Yazhou Town government, the land was quickly transferred into place, and construction started in January this year.
Because Australian lobster fry are very small, with 16,000 fry in one jin, they are easily eaten by natural enemies such as frogs, rice field eels and small fish. Therefore, the water pumped up from nearby rivers must be strictly filtered. To prevent fish from slipping through, Ju Wenyou built a water filtration system. The water pumped from the river first passes through a water tank for disinfection and purification, and is then transported through pipes to each shrimp pond. The water inlets of the shrimp ponds are all equipped with filtering devices, fully ensuring the purity of the water.
Scientific farming using "Internet Plus" thinking
In the farming process, Ju Wenyou applied "Internet Plus" thinking and, through terminals such as computers and mobile phones, achieved intelligent, automated, precise and remote control of the production process. With the 24-hour real-time monitoring and adjustment of water temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH value in the shrimp ponds, he can see everything clearly by opening his mobile phone, remotely and accurately measure and control various indicators of the ponds, and handle aeration and feeding in the shrimp ponds with one click. According to reports, using this technology can reduce labor by 38% and save about 35% in electricity costs.