Scallop conch farming brings prosperity to a village in Leizhou, Guangdong

Right now is the peak harvest season for scallop conch in the coastal villages of Leizhou City, Guangdong. Since entering April, nearly 1,000 scallop conch farmers have been busy harvesting conch every day on the beach of the Wushi Tianchengtai Resort Area in Leizhou City.

At the conch harvesting site, the photographer saw many out-of-town buyers driving their trucks onto the beach to trade scallop conch with local farming households. A conch buyer surnamed Xie revealed that because the scallop conch farmed by the villagers has high yields and delicious meat, it is widely favored by consumers, so merchants are very happy to come here to purchase it.

That day, the purchase price of scallop conch was 1.8 yuan/jin; after shelling at processing plants, it sells to hotels for about 12 yuan/jin. If dried and transported to market for sale as dried goods, the wholesale price is 60 to 80 yuan/jin, and the retail price can reach 80 to 140 yuan/jin. The conch merchant surnamed Xie also revealed that at present, all the scallop conch he purchases goes to international markets such as Macao, China, and Hong Kong, China, and the product is somewhat in short supply.

In recent years, under the guidance of the local government, the people of Wushi in Leizhou have done a good job in making the most of the sea, vigorously developing the seawater aquaculture industry, and enabling conch farming to develop rapidly, thus bringing forth a large number of specialized farming households.

The specialized households are aware of the importance of “invigorating agriculture through science and technology”, and often invite professors to explain scallop conch farming techniques, and to become familiar with the activity patterns and living environment of conch seedlings, so that the scallop conch grows well and yields bumper harvests year after year.

For Wushi's scallop conch, the harvest season is from November each year to May of the following year. For an ordinary farming household, the annual investment is about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, and the annual income can reach 130,000 to 150,000 yuan. Therefore, farming scallop conch has made the road to prosperity for the people of Wushi ever broader.