A Rich Road for "Acipenser sinensis" in the Deep Mountains

Before 2014, people in Meizaiping Village, Zhongcun Township, Yongfeng County did not know what Chinese sturgeon was. Now, Chinese sturgeon has become a hot word for villagers to get rid of poverty. Over the past three years, the Chinese sturgeon industry in Meizaiping Village has grown from scratch. More than 20 Chinese sturgeon farmers have emerged in the village, with more than 300,000 breeding stocks and an annual output value of nearly 6 million yuan. "Finally, we have found a way to become rich for our poor families in the mountains." Recalling the course of entrepreneurship, Hu Xiaohua, director-general of the village's Chinese sturgeon breeding professional cooperative, said with emotion.

Meizaiping Village is a remote small mountain village in Yongfeng County, 89 kilometers away from the county seat, rich in forest resources and abundant spring water. Because of the high mountains and cold water, the cultivated land here can only grow rice for one season, and the yield is low. Villagers try to plant other cash crops, but also because of water, soil, climate and other natural conditions constraints, the benefits are not high. Some people in the village once proposed to introduce industrial projects, but most villagers opposed them for fear of destroying the natural ecology. Unable to find suitable planting projects, many villagers struggle on the poverty line all the year round.

Low water temperature and insufficient light are the hard injuries of most planting and breeding projects. However, there is no pollution, dissolved oxygen rich mountain spring, for Chinese sturgeon, it is the most suitable living conditions. In February 2014, Hu Xiaohua, Xiao Wenping and Wu Lucai, villagers, visited Guangdong for investigation. After understanding the conditions, technologies and market sales required for artificial breeding of Chinese sturgeon, they decided to introduce Chinese sturgeon breeding project suitable for the village environment. Three people also went to Longnan County of Ganzhou City to study, and bought back 20,000 young sturgeon at the price of 4 yuan and 1 tail to start a business trip.

Hu Xiaohua and others made full use of the geographical conditions of the village to transform terraces into octagonal sturgeon ponds. Spring water makes use of terrain drop, flows into sturgeon pond from edge, and then flows into sewer from central water outlet, so as to keep water body in pond flowing slowly with sufficient dissolved oxygen, realize automatic drainage and irrigation, reduce breeding cost and increase market competitiveness.

"This is the juvenile sturgeon pond, and this is the adult sturgeon pond. 6500 young sturgeon are bred in each pond, and 1500 sturgeon are bred in each pond. After the juvenile sturgeon grows to a certain extent, it is transferred to the adult sturgeon pond for intensive cultivation before being marketed." Hu Xiaohua introduced. Chinese sturgeon is known as "living fossil" in water, said the whole body in addition to the body bone plate other parts can be eaten, is classified as high-grade tonic. Sturgeon skin is also a good raw material for making high-grade leather products. Artificial breeding to about 2 kg per tail, can be listed.

After careful management, the first batch of Chinese sturgeon was successfully listed at the end of 2014. "The cost is about 20 yuan per kilogram, the market price is about 80 yuan per kilogram, the output value of a mature sturgeon pond reaches 200,000 yuan, and the net income is more than 100,000 yuan." Hu Xiaohua still remembers the "first bucket of gold" harvested by sturgeon farming.

Even in the middle of the valley, you can dig a "big gold mine." The success of Hu Xiaohua and others caused a sensation in this remote small mountain village. Many villagers came to find them one after another. For the villagers who come to learn from the door, Hu Xiaohua unreservedly teaches his own groping experience. For poor households in the village, Hu Xiaohua is doing his best to help.

"All of the people hired by the base are poor. They not only earn dozens of yuan a day, but also learn the breeding technology of Chinese sturgeon in an all-round way. After mastering the technology, if he is willing to start his own business, I will help him choose a location, let him owe seedlings on credit, and sign a recycling contract." Hu Xiaohua strives to reduce the breeding risk of poor households to "zero" so that they can go into battle lightly. At present, six poor households have successfully "graduated" from the base and built their own breeding ponds.

The Chinese sturgeon breeding craze in Meizaiping Village has attracted the attention of the local government. The two committees of the village take the lead in establishing professional cooperatives according to the situation. Hu Xiaohua served as the first director and registered his own family farm. "In the next step, we plan to develop Chinese sturgeon breeding in pear trees, dragon heads and other mountain villages, provide technology to villagers free of charge, help plan, design and build fish ponds, and provide rich roads for more poor people in deep mountains." Hu Xiaohua is full of confidence in expanding the Chinese sturgeon breeding industry.