How "Shrimp General" Wang Wei raised shrimp well

    "Viewed from the front, it is red with a hint of green, and the shell color is bright; viewed from the side, the shrimp belly is snow white and the meat is plump. This kind of crawfish is the most popular on the market and is the flagship product of our village's specialty aquaculture." At the city's poverty alleviation on-site meeting, Wang Wei, deputy secretary of the Party general branch of Dazhou Village, Huaihe Town, Xuyi County, held a crawfish in his hand and carefully introduced it to the leaders observing the 100-mu crawfish breeding demonstration site in Dazhou Village. The attendees might not have expected that this young and capable village Party general branch deputy secretary and skilled breeder in front of them had been an inexperienced university student just two years earlier.

    In 2007, Wang Wei, a graduate of Soochow University, gave up the opportunity to practice law in Shanghai and returned to his hometown of Huai'an to become a university student village official. In just two short years, by taking the lead in starting a business and guiding the villagers to prosperity, the young man became a widely known "Shrimp General."

    Dazhou Village, where Wang Wei served, borders the Huaihe River, has fertile land and abundant water sources, and enjoys exceptionally favorable conditions for aquaculture. Xuyi County, to which Dazhou Village belongs, also has long been known as the "Crayfish Capital." Every June during the crawfish market season, this small county town, relying on the brand effect of the crawfish festival, sees an extraordinarily booming crawfish consumer market, and crawfish prices are also strong. The resource advantages at both the county and township levels let Wang Wei, who had not long been assigned to the village, see a business opportunity. "Xuyi crawfish are booming, and the villagers' lives should also prosper. We can't sit on a golden signboard while living in poverty!" With this idea, Wang Wei conceived the notion of developing large-scale, distinctive crawfish farming in the village.

    However, could a university graduate really raise crawfish? From relatives to villagers, and even some Party members and cadres around him, everyone was full of doubt about Wang Wei.

    "Shouting until your voice breaks is not as good as setting an example. To encourage villagers to pursue prosperity, we cannot rely only on preaching; we must play a demonstrative role. If the common people cannot free their minds, then I will take the lead myself and take the first step on the path of entrepreneurship." Faced with everyone's doubts, Wang Wei always explained it this way.

    Everything is difficult at the beginning, and the pressure at the start of a business is obvious, with funding difficulties especially prominent. To this end, Wang Wei, on the one hand, took out all his savings, and on the other hand, proactively contacted the city Agricultural Bank, the unit linked to poverty alleviation in the village. The first time he went, no one paid attention. So Wang Wei went twice, three times... Perhaps Wang Wei's sincerity in wanting to get things done moved the leaders of the city Agricultural Bank. In the end, he not only obtained partial financial support from the city Agricultural Bank, but also, through the city Agricultural Bank's village-stationed instructor, got in touch with technicians from the city Animal Husbandry and Aquaculture Bureau to come regularly for guidance, solving the technical problems of crawfish farming.

    With his own persistence and effort, and with the active cooperation of the relevant parties, in June 2008, the 100-mu crawfish breeding demonstration site project, initiated by Wang Wei himself and jointly funded by village Party general branch secretary Zhu Chengqin and village Group 6 leader Xu Changyou, was launched.

    After the project was implemented, Wang Wei threw himself wholeheartedly into crawfish. In order to raise the crawfish big, fat, and distinctive, he constantly studied crawfish habits and pondered breeding techniques. From the time the first batch of shrimp fry was released, as long as the villagers saw Wang Wei's figure hurrying among the ditches and ponds, they knew that he must be "inspecting the shrimp"! Wang Wei got darker, Wang Wei got thinner, and the crawfish "grew vigorously." In order to truly industrialize crawfish farming, Wang Wei and the village Party general branch secretary worked together to continuously expand the breeding scale. At present, the preliminary investment in the Dazhou Village crawfish breeding demonstration site has reached nearly 900,000 yuan, 150 mu of low-lying land has been developed, 200,000 shrimp fry have been released, the yield per mu has reached 100-200 kg, and the benefit per mu is 2,000-3,500 yuan. And in just one month before the opening of this year's Xuyi Crawfish Festival, the profit from crawfish farming reached 50,000 yuan.

    Having taken the first step on the road to prosperity, Wang Wei did not forget the people around him. As early as the beginning of the breeding project, he mobilized 5 poor households in the village, 10 people in total, to work at his breeding demonstration site. After the project began to make a profit, Wang Wei, building on what already existed, established the Changyou Crawfish Breeding Professional Cooperative, absorbing poor households to invest and join the cooperative, with all returns distributed according to shares.

    Now, the success of crawfish farming has not only won Wang Wei the fine name of "Shrimp General," but also created more opportunities for him to serve the people. At the end of 2008, Huaihe Town approved the establishment of a crawfish breeding Party branch in Dazhou Village, and Wang Wei was appointed as the secretary of the industry Party branch. "Having taken on the role of secretary of the industry Party branch, the burden on my shoulders is heavier, and I also have more motivation." Facing this writer, Wang Wei said confidently: "'Shrimp General' may be small, but there is a future in it. As long as the crawfish are raised well, the lives of the villagers of Dazhou Village will surely prosper just like Xuyi's crawfish!"