The farming story of tilapia king Li Ruiwei

    Li Ruiwei is a member of the sixth Maoming Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Guangdong Province and a model worker of Maoming City. He spent 10 years studying fish farming, and today he has become a widely known "fish farming king." He said: "I chose to go into aquaculture because I considered that sea fishing would decline more and more, freshwater aquaculture would keep developing, and for the fry industry, as long as the quality is good, demand will keep growing..."

Li Ruiwei (third from left), general manager of the Maonan Sangao Improved Breed Breeding Base, and Lin Ridi (first from right), deputy mayor of Maoming City, warmly reported to Academician Xia Dequan (fourth from left) and his party on the base's achievements in breeding the Sangao Aoxiong brand Obeni strain tilapia: fast growth, large individual size, high feed conversion efficiency, strong disease resistance, and the fish can reach 1 kg in weight in the same year of farming. Photo by Sanrui

Seizing the opportunity  digging up the "first bucket of gold"

Li Ruiwei was born in 1959 in Zhensheng, Maonan District. In early 1980, he was still a "motorcycle taxi rider" who made a living by carrying passengers and delivering goods on a motorcycle. Through diligence and endurance of hardship, two years later he bought a truck and specialized in freight transport. In 1985, Li Ruiwei went to work at the improved breed farm of the Maoming City Aquatic Products Bureau. Because the improved breed farm was close to the highway, he felt there was greater room for development there. At the end of 1985, he opened a small gas station at the improved breed farm. By 1990, he had accumulated more than 100,000 in funds. So he turned the original small gas station into a modern private gas station.

Accepting experts' advice to go into fish farming

Li Ruiwei's operation of the gas station was not all smooth sailing. In the course of developing his business, he tasted sweetness and also tasted bitterness. Because others owed him huge amounts for goods and for other reasons, he once fell into enormous debt. But with the support of friends and his own efforts, he overcame one difficulty after another.

In 1995, Li Ruiwei encountered confusion in his career, and he decided to go out and travel. He went to the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and visited friends, experts and professors working there. The experts suggested that Li Ruiwei go into fish farming. They also said that they could help solve technical problems and could help introduce whatever fry he needed.

Li Ruiwei gladly accepted the experts' suggestion. In the second half of 1995, he chose a broad stretch of farmland in Xiashan, Gongguan Town, Maonan District as the base. Construction of the fish fry farm began in 1996, and it went into production that same year.

Becoming a widely known "fish farming king"

Li Ruiwei firmly believed that fish ponds must be used to raise fish, and that if the fry producer's quality was good, pond owners would definitely come looking for you. Therefore, he did not hesitate to spend heavily to ensure fry quality and always considered the interests of pond owners in every way.

In 1997, he spent several hundred thousand to introduce a batch of fry. But after testing, he found that these fry were not very good, and he decided not to sell them to farmers. As a result, he suffered a direct loss of several million yuan. In 2003, a buyer from Gaozhou ordered 300,000 fry from Li Ruiwei and paid. More than 10 days later, the pond owner wanted the fry. During casual conversation, Li Ruiwei learned that the pond owner's pond probably did not need so many fry (after analysis, it was also impossible for the pond to hold so many fry, and the pond owner might have been cheated by fry dealers). The pond owner accepted his suggestion, bought 200,000 fewer fry, and paid 30,000 yuan less for the fry. That year, the pond owner received 170,000 yuan more from selling fish, and sent Li Ruiwei a gift to express thanks.

After 10 years of entrepreneurship, the Maoming Maonan Sangao Improved Breed Breeding Base (a private enterprise) founded by Li Ruiwei now has more than 1,200 mu of farming grounds, 13.6 million yuan in fixed assets, an annual output of more than 200 million tilapia fry and more than 10 billion other freshwater fish fry, and annual profits and taxes of more than 3 million yuan. In September 2002, the base passed qualification inspection as a provincial-level tilapia improved breed farm and was rated as the Guangdong Tilapia Science and Technology Innovation Center. In 2003, in all-male tilapia seed production and farming, it successively won the third prize of the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Achievement Award, the first prize of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, the first prize of the Maoming Municipal People's Government, and the "First Prize for Development and Application of Improved Tilapia Germplasm Resources" issued by the Maoming Municipal Science and Technology Bureau. In 2004, the "Sangao Aoxiong" brand Oni fish fry won the title of Guangdong Province (agricultural category) famous brand product. Li Ruiwei thus became a widely known "fish farming king."

Getting rich without forgetting his fellow townspeople

Li Ruiwei's company has its own brand, and every day people come in an endless stream to place orders and make inquiries in person. The fry produced by the company are sold far to all parts of the country and to Vietnam, Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries, with sales accounting for one-sixth of the country and one-fourth of the province. Li Ruiwei, who became rich through wisdom and diligence, has not forgotten the fellow townspeople of his hometown. In order to help his fellow townspeople embark together on the road to prosperity, every year he provides technical training in batches and stages for aquaculture specialist households in his hometown and offers technical guidance to farming households. Last year, he led more than 1,800 surrounding farming households to raise tilapia, increasing farmers' income by nearly 35 million yuan; he also provided 500,000 yuan worth of fry free of charge to more than 520 disadvantaged households; and he helped farmers who had difficulty selling fish connect with buyers to sell more than 8,000 tons of tilapia, worth more than 60 million yuan. In addition, he is very enthusiastic about public welfare causes, has taken in 15 laid-off workers to work at the base, sends consolation money to local elderly people who are widowed and childless on festivals and holidays, and has donated several hundred thousand yuan to road construction in his hometown.