Growing American frogs with Chinese herbal medicine: this is how Zhou Zhipeng does it
In Guguang Village, Changkai Town, Linchuan District, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, a young man just past 30 has found his way to prosperity by raising American frogs and has become a household name as a skilled entrepreneur. He is Zhou Zhipeng.
Influenced by his father, Zhou Zhipeng has been deeply familiar with aquaculture since childhood. After gaining years of aquaculture experience, Zhou Zhipeng and his father together developed a Chinese herbal formula for raising frogs, and they were delighted to find that this method gave tadpoles a survival rate of over 95%, with adult frogs growing as large as 1.5 kg, making him the first person in the city to use a Chinese herbal formula to raise American frogs. At present, his annual net income reaches more than 300,000 yuan, and his fixed assets reach more than 2 million yuan. What delights Zhou Zhipeng even more is that in mid-May this year, this self-developed Chinese herbal breeding formula also won a gold award at the Hong Kong Expo.
Familiar with aquaculture since childhood
"My success today would not be possible without my father's help," Zhou Zhipeng said. In 1995, Zhou Zhipeng's father began trying to raise bullfrogs. Influenced by his father, Zhou Zhipeng fell in love with aquaculture from childhood. After graduating from high school, Zhou Zhipeng helped out at his father's farm. A few years later, Zhou Zhipeng found that his father's bullfrog farm was only a small operation and hard to scale up. So Zhou Zhipeng proposed to his father that he wanted to enroll in a correspondence course at Jiangxi Agricultural University to learn some practical breeding techniques. After learning of his son's idea, his father gladly agreed.
"At first I wanted to raise bullfrogs, and I wasn't worried about much. I had capital, and sales were not a concern either. The only worry was how to introduce high-quality breeding frogs," Zhou Peishun told reporters. Traditional breeding methods made costs too high, and profit margins were also limited.
In the summer of 2005, by a chance opportunity, Zhou Zhipeng heard that many farmers in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas were raising American frogs with good economic returns, so he immediately rushed to Jiangsu to learn the techniques for raising American frogs. Just like that, Zhou Zhipeng began his journey of raising American frogs.
Formula wins gold award at Hong Kong Expo
"American frogs grow fast, have strong cold resistance, and are easy to manage. They are not only large in size, with tender meat and a delicious taste, but also have high nutritional and economic value," Zhou Zhipeng said. When he first introduced American frogs, he was full of confidence and prepared to go all out. However, during the breeding process, Zhou Zhipeng unexpectedly discovered that most of the American frogs became listless because they were not acclimated to the local environment, more than half showed symptoms of diarrhea, and some frogs with poor adaptability even began to die. Seeing this, Zhou Zhipeng and his father were truly frightened. A few months later, Zhou Zhipeng found that the number of deaths among the American frogs on his farm had actually exceeded 30%.
To find medicines to prevent and treat intestinal problems in frogs, Zhou Zhipeng bought many books related to frog farming. When Zhou Zhipeng learned from the books that Chinese herbal medicine could purify water quality, he became extremely excited and immediately told his father the good news. Relying on his father's years of breeding experience, Zhou Zhipeng and his father together developed a Chinese herbal medicine that could prevent intestinal diseases in frogs and purify water quality, improving the survival rate and growth speed of American frogs, and changing from the traditional method with terrestrial habitat to an ecological breeding method without terrestrial habitat.
After the news spread, Zhou Zhipeng received more than 40 visits in total from specialized breeding households from Yichun, Shangrao, Guangchang and other places who came to learn from him. In 2005, Zhou Zhipeng wrote a scientific research article titled "Research and Promotion of Healthy Breeding Technology for American Frogs," which was recognized by experts from the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology. The experts unanimously agreed that this research achievement had reached the leading domestic level, was conducive to promoting the industrialization of American frog breeding, and had a very good demonstration effect on promoting special aquaculture. In mid-May this year, this formula developed by Zhou Zhipeng and his father for raising American frogs with Chinese herbal medicine also won a gold award at the Hong Kong Expo.
Investing heavily to build a "farmhouse leisure" destination
"At present, the entire farm has more than 40 ponds, separately raising bullfrogs, soft-shelled turtles, rice field eels, and others, covering an area of more than 40 mu," Zhou Zhipeng said. Because American frogs are in short supply, he plans to expand the breeding area to 50 mu. In the future, it is estimated that each year he can breed 130,000 pairs of breeding frogs and 20 million young frogs, with an adult frog yield of 15,000 kg per mu. Zhou Zhipeng said that he is now investing more than 1 million yuan to build a new breeding workshop, carry out pond renovation projects, and plant farm vegetables, preparing to fully implement a computer-managed model and actively turn the farm into a comprehensive "farmhouse leisure" tourism project. Zhou Zhipeng said that through many struggles he has tasted the sweetness of entrepreneurship, and in fact, for success, effort and opportunity are equally important.