The rice-fish farming in Jiangsu province has effectively improved the agricultural environment, improved the quality of agricultural products, and enabled farmers to achieve bumper harvest.
The crayfish in Xuyi County is marketed in mid-June until mid-October.
Liu Jianbao, a farmer in Xuyi, has earned a hefty income from the rice-fish farming by growing crayfish in his paddy rice fields.
He could earn no more than 9000 yuan from cultivating one hectare of rice in the past.
The rice-fish farming has helped him to increase the earnings to 45000 yuan per hectare.
The shade from the rice has also helped the crayfish to be of better quality.
Liu is expecting more than 600,000 yuan of income from the rice-fish farming when the rice and crayfish is sold out at the end of October.
The rice-fish farming mode has been promoted over an area of 22,600 hectares in Xuyi with the total areas of the rice-fish farming expected to reach 53,333 hectares by the end of the 13th five-year plan period.
The comprehensive cultivation of rice and fish can also improve the quality of rice. In Beizhu Village, Xuxiake Town, Jiangyin, no fertilizer nor pesticides have been applied over 3.33 hectares of rice fields through the rice-frog farming as the frogs eat insects and eggs in the water, restricting the reproduction of pests, thereby reining in rice diseases. Rice can effectively absorb nutrients such as residual baits and feces of frogs.
In recent years, Jiangsu has allocated special funds for the promotion of the rice-fish farming which was carried out in 20 counties last year through a pilot program. The growing areas of the rice-fish farming has expanded to 33333 hectares this year, most notably in Xuyi, Sihong and Peixian, to help the farmers increase their income substantially.
(source:ourjiangsu.com)
