How popular is crayfish consumption? In 2014, Hubei residents ate 25.5 billion yuan worth

Crayfish production and sales have entered the final stage. On the 22nd, it was learned from the Hubei Provincial Aquatic Products Bureau that in 2014 the province's total crayfish output reached 388,000 tons, with a comprehensive output value of 48.72 billion yuan, both output and output value reaching new highs again. The number of restaurants in Hubei operating crayfish exceeded 14,000, and Hubei residents spent 25.5 billion yuan eating crayfish this year.

According to incomplete statistics from relevant departments, in 2014 the province's crayfish farming output value will reach 13.62 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.46 billion yuan; the market circulation added value reached 2.41 billion yuan; enterprises processed and converted 162,000 tons of crayfish raw materials, producing 58,600 tons of finished products, achieving a processing output value of 7.11 billion yuan; the province's crayfish export value from January to September was 221 million USD, a year-on-year increase of 27.8%. The number of restaurants in the province operating crayfish exceeded 14,000, with catering output value reaching 25.58 billion yuan. The province's comprehensive crayfish output value will reach 48.72 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.8%.

In recent years, the crayfish industry has remained "feverishly hot." The annual sales volume of crayfish entering large chain supermarkets such as Zhongbai Warehousing and Carrefour in the province in bulk exceeded 2.4 million kg, with an average wholesale price of 40.5 yuan/kg, a year-on-year increase of 15.7%. Wuhan's catering "shrimp season" has been extended once again, with signature dishes such as "braised crayfish" hitting the market 1 month earlier than in previous years; Qianjiang has more than 1,000 crayfish restaurants, accommodating tens of thousands of diners daily, with annual revenue of nearly 2 billion yuan; Jianli County sells more than 10,000 tons of crayfish to all parts of the country each year.

The booming market demand has drawn social resources to target this hot industry. Xiong Shenghong, a Xiantao native who previously worked in real estate, invested more than 10 million yuan to acquire 6,400 mu of low-lying lake fields to open a crayfish farm; Xiong Jianliang, a Qianjiang native who runs a catering business in Beijing, returned home and invested more than 1 million yuan to transfer 500 mu of paddy fields for crayfish farming. According to statistics, more than 200 successful people from various places have returned home to invest in crayfish farming, with invested capital of more than 200 million yuan, developing a crayfish farming area of more than 100,000 mu.

New farming models such as "rice field shrimp farming" have become the main path for shrimp farmers to increase income. By improving infrastructure and developing ecological farming methods, production returns have been greatly enhanced. This technique fully combines rice and aquaculture; not only is shrimp output high, but rice quality is also greatly improved.

Rice-shrimp co-cropping plants only one season of crops a year. In winter, water and soil are conserved, maintaining soil fertility. Then, by selecting excellent rice varieties and using rational close planting and other methods, 90% of the rice yield increases greatly compared with the same area previously. Moreover, the microorganisms and pests produced during rice growth provide sufficient bait for crayfish, and the excrement produced by crayfish in turn provides good biological fertilizer for rice growth. In this way, a mutually beneficial biological chain is formed, achieving ecological value-added benefits.

Tao Zhonghu, chief engineer of the Qianjiang Aquatic Products Bureau in Hubei Province, said that "shrimp-rice co-cropping" improves the comprehensive utilization rate of paddy fields and also overcomes the shortcomings of the original model, such as small commercial shrimp size, low output and low efficiency, and is an important technological innovation.

The WAN Mu Lake Crayfish Cooperative in Ezhou City has vigorously developed the efficient comprehensive breeding model of "one season of rice and three seasons of shrimp." With 5,000 mu of water surface, relying solely on selling more than 400,000 jin of shrimp fry for the whole year, it earned 5 million more than last year. The pollution-free rice produced by the "fragrant rice and Jiayu" model in Zhongxiang City reached an average price of 3 yuan/jin, increasing net income by 2,000 yuan per mu from rice alone.

Data shows that this year the province's "rice field shrimp farming" area reached 2.237 million mu, an increase of 287,000 mu, and the "shrimp-crab mixed farming" area reached 979,000 mu, an increase of 21,000 mu. The total area for crayfish farming in various water bodies exceeded 4 million mu.

Qianjiang City is the home of crayfish. This year it successfully introduced 1.5 billion yuan and plans to build a 560,000 sq m "China Qianjiang Ecological Crayfish City," which will become the country's largest crayfish e-commerce platform and the world's largest crayfish wholesale market.