Raising loaches in strawberry greenhouses, growers broaden their path to prosperity

Cong Ziqiang, a grower in Damashaoogu Village, Binhai New Area, is bold in exploration: he cleared out two of his three strawberry greenhouses to raise loaches, opening up a new path to prosperity. The four thousand jin of loaches he is now raising already have buyers.

A reporter walked into the strawberry growing base in Damashaoogu Village, where Cong Ziqiang's breeding greenhouse is located. Asked why he gave up growing strawberries so well to raise loaches instead, he said the whole village has 70 strawberry greenhouses, and seeing that many farmers grow strawberries, he planned out his three greenhouses: two for loaches and one for strawberries. This way he can do both growing and breeding without neglecting either. Now, after four months of breeding, about ten loaches make one jin.

I figure they all come from the ground anyway, and the market is all right, so now I'm heading for the Northeast. The price is around fourteen or fifteen yuan, wholesale.

For Cong Ziqiang's exploration, the leaders of Damashaoogu Village gave help in every aspect. Village committee director Li Junping said: "This is also introducing and trying out a new breed, and we're trying to get a bit of subsidy; I'm looking into it too. Our area here is mainly not a breeding zone, it's mainly for growing; Yangjiabu does breeding, while our open-field area here is agricultural. We're looking into it from various angles and trying to secure whatever information we can."

In the village, Cong Ziqiang is the first household to take up breeding, and in terms of economic returns he has tasted the sweetness of success, which has added to his confidence in large-scale breeding next year. Winter is coming soon; how will the loaches still in the ponds get through the winter? What should be noted for overwintering? Cong Ziqiang said: "Its cycle is four months, so raising three seasons a year is no problem. In my demonstration, they can eat in winter, so raising three seasons is no problem. When the water temperature drops below 15, they stop eating. They go into an overwintering state. Right now it has to reach 22 degrees every night, and 26 or 27 degrees in the daytime is no problem. It's definitely no problem."