Bao Huaibiao: Developing Ecological Circular Agriculture to Broaden the Path to Prosperity

Bao Huaibiao holds a big fish in his hands, his face beaming with joy

Golden corn, thriving vegetables, pens full of cattle and sheep, and stretches of fish ponds... Recently, the author walked into the Shengquan Ecological Agriculture Sightseeing Park in Shenmu County, and everything before my eyes was refreshing, especially the leaping fish in the fish ponds, which was a particularly distinctive sight in the park. It was noon, and Bao Huaibiao, plainly dressed and with a peaceful look on his face, was busy hauling in nets with the workers at the fish pond, a joyful smile spreading across his face.

Workers are casting nets to catch fish

Bao Huaibiao, 47 years old this year, is a villager of Sangshuqu Village in Shenmu County, and seeking a path to prosperity through agricultural development has always been the dream he has pursued. In 2009, Bao Huaibiao founded the Shengquan Ecological Agriculture Sightseeing Park in Sangshuqu Village, Gaojiabao Town. The park consists of a planting base and a breeding base, with a catering department, a guest room department and others under it. It is an agricultural park integrating tourism and sightseeing, life experience, and leisure vacations, covering 550 mu, with green, environmentally friendly, healthy and ecological principles as its business philosophy, developing circular ecological agriculture to broaden the path to prosperity. Bao Huaibiao told the author that the purpose of developing ecological circular agriculture is to let consumers eat food they can trust. At present, the enterprise is improving various facilities and striving to create a new growth point for rural industry in Shenmu.

When it comes to the sightseeing park, what comforts Bao Huaibiao most is his 7 fish ponds, each covering an area ranging from 6 to 20 mu, with 5 kinds of fish: spotted silver carp, silver carp, common carp, crucian carp and grass carp. Besides being sold, the fishing pond in the park sees many fishing enthusiasts drive there every day to fish. According to Bao Huaibiao, the biggest difference between the fish he raises and other fish lies in freshwater aquaculture. The sightseeing park is adjacent to the Caitugou Reservoir, has good water source conditions, and the water quality is good, so the fish meat is both fresh and tender, healthy and ecological.

"My fish ponds basically produce fish once every three years, with more than 50,000 jin of fish each time, and the largest fish can reach more than 10 jin. A large number of fry are also bred in the fish ponds, producing more than 40,000 jin of fry a year." Bao Huaibiao told the author that to ensure the survival rate of the fish, he also hired professional technical staff. Besides raising these fry himself, he also sells them externally and provides technical guidance, so that more farmers can become prosperous together. Bao Huaibiao has already formed a complete set of mature operational technical procedures in drainage, checking water quality, feeding, cleaning pond waste, and management. Even so, he still uses his spare time to learn knowledge related to aquaculture and often goes out to study and learn the advanced experience of other farmers.

While developing ecological agriculture, Bao Huaibiao also drives local villagers to become prosperous together. Every year during the busy season, he hires local villagers to help. Li Caixia, a villager of Caitugou, said: "It's close to home. We old couple can't sit still normally, so when the fish ponds are busy we come to work. It's better than going out to work."

"Society is developing, and agriculture is fundamental. In the future, I will still study more fish farming techniques and introduce more good fish species." Speaking of the enterprise's future development plans, Bao Huaibiao was full of confidence.