Innovative rice planting model, with crabs and ducks frolicking in the fields
On the afternoon of November 3, south of the government seat of the Shouguang Shuangwangcheng Ecological Economic Park, beneath an advertising sign reading "Judian Lake Rice," Ma Ying, general manager of Changde Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., stood beside the embankment of a canal in the rice fields, observing the grass carp in the channel.
"Once the weather gets a bit colder, the fish will fatten up. When I sell the fish at the end of the year, the returns should be decent." Ma Ying said this patch of rice fields was his pride and joy. Ever since he made up his mind to grow rice, he had been constantly thinking up innovative ideas for planting and breeding.
In 2013, Ma Ying, who had spent many years making his way in the construction industry, set his sights on high-end agriculture. "By Judian Lake, I contracted 46 mu of land, of which 16 mu was used to trial-plant rice." Ma Ying said that because there was a lot of rain that year, plus the abundant water storage of Judian Lake, the 16 mu of rice enjoyed a bumper harvest.
"Many experts came to Shuangwangcheng for on-site inspections and all said the soil here is alkaline and the weather dry, so it is not suitable for growing rice." Ma Ying said that because he himself had also consulted a great deal of agronomy material and learned some knowledge about rice cultivation, he concluded that as long as water could be supplied, growing rice would not be a problem.
After the first year's trial planting succeeded, last year Ma Ying suddenly expanded the rice planting area from 16 mu to 500 mu.
"In 2014, I increased the number of varieties from the single one used in the initial trial to 7, tested in separate plots." Ma Ying said that because the rice fields were moved southward, the rice no longer adjacent to Judian Lake could only "drink" well water.
"There were originally two wells here. Because rice cultivation requires a large amount of water, I drilled another 6, distributed evenly across the rice fields." Ma Ying said that in the end, after a year of consuming financial resources, brainpower and manpower, among the 7 rice varieties he kept only 2.
"One is a type of japonica rice, and the other is a type of glutinous rice." Ma Xiujian of Changde Company said that both varieties have the advantages of a long growth period, stable yields and good taste, and belong to the high-end category of organic rice. Because they are selenium-enriched and pollution-free, the market price has already reached 20 yuan per jin, supplied directly to first- and second-tier cities across the country.
The rice was a success, but the waste of the field canals and the space beneath the rice plants had Ma Ying racking his brains. "Got it!" Ma Ying decided to do breeding alongside planting. "Black carp, grass carp, silver carp, bighead carp, common carp and loach are raised in the field canals, while ducks and crabs are raised in the rice fields, achieving multiple benefits at once."
In 2015, Ma Ying's idea of "three-dimensional planting and breeding" was put into practice. "Though it is called breeding, it is actually equivalent to the wild. Reeds fertilize the fish, fish droppings fertilize the water and the mud, and the mud fertilizes the rice." Ma Xiujian said that silver carp grown in the canals can sell for 10 yuan per jin, far above the market price of 4.5 yuan per jin for ordinary farmed silver carp. "This year, just from selling fish, we can earn more than 200,000 yuan, and adding the rice income on top of that, it is quite considerable."
"Next year I plan to set aside 10 mu of land just for growing rapeseed, neither to eat nor to sell. After the rapeseed is crushed, it will be used specifically as fertilizer returned to the fields, a natural organic fertilizer." Ma Ying planned to also expand the ridges in the rice fields from 10 cm to 15 cm, to make it easier for the ducks and crabs to move around.
In the north of Shuangwangcheng there is an ecological forest farm covering 30,000 mu. "The main tree species planted in the forest farm are economic and afforestation trees such as Mao bai la (Chinese ash), fast-growing poplar, Chinese scholartree, willow and Ailanthus, with intercropping of trees and crops to improve land utilization." said Bi Xiaomei, head of the tourism company of the Shouguang Linhai Ecological Expo Garden.
"The Linhai Ecological Expo Garden has explored and realized a three-dimensional planting and breeding model of lotus below the trees and fish below the trees." Bi Xiaomei said, that is, digging ponds and building dikes on saline-alkali land to raise the ground level. Economic trees are planted on the pond dikes, lotus roots are grown in the ponds to purify the water quality, and freshwater fish are additionally raised in the ponds.
"At present, the water area for aquaculture in the garden has reached 3,500 mu, with more than 20 fish species including African catfish, common carp and spotted silver carp, and it can provide about 7 million jin of marketable fish to society each year on average." Bi Xiaomei said that three-dimensional planting and breeding has brought considerable economic income to the forest farm and the expo garden, and has become a highlight of tourism and sightseeing. Because the fish ponds contain lotus roots, every year from July to September the expo garden holds a Lotus Festival, attracting tourists from various places to come and admire the flowers.