Farmers in Chengmai County, Hainan Province, who are mixed with fish and ducks, widen the way to get rich.

On the morning of October 23, the Chengmai County Party Committee and County Government of Hainan Province held an on-the-spot meeting to promote the mode of mixed culture of fish and duck in Yongfa Town. Yang Sitao, secretary of the county party committee, Chen Xiaobo, county magistrate, four sets of county teams, and other leaders as well as responsible persons of various villages and towns attended the meeting. Through on-the-spot visits, we can further understand some successful practices and experiences of Yongfa Town in grasping the adjustment of industrial structure and increasing farmers' income, and popularize them throughout the county.

It is understood that since 2004, the Yongfa town committee and the town government have actively guided farmers to boldly adjust their industrial structure, making full use of the favorable conditions of many mountains and ponds, wide mountains and adequate water resources in Yongfa area to innovate the culture model, adopt to raise meat ducks on the surface of the water, breed freshwater fish under water, carry out mixed culture of fish and ducks, and use the feces discharged from meat ducks as fish feed, so as to reduce the cost of fish culture. It also solves the problem of pollution of livestock and poultry manure. If the price of meat duck is affected by the weak market, resulting in a loss in duck breeding, then the fish income can make up for part of the income, so that the risk of breeding is relatively less. Using this model, under the condition that the market price of meat duck is stable, it not only makes money by raising duck, but also increases the income of fish. The economic benefit of mixed culture of duck and fish is more than two times higher than that of single culture.

In August 2004, with the attention and support of Chengmai county party committee and county government and the guidance of county animal husbandry bureau, the first fish and duck breeding association in Chengmai county was established by farmers. The method is that the association signs a support agreement with the farmers, and then the association provides the seedlings, feed, and technology free of charge. When the farmers raise the fish and ducks out of the fence, the association will be responsible for contacting the customers to help sell them, and finally deduct the seedling and feed costs from the sales income.

The establishment of the association has opened up a new way of mixed breeding of ducks and fish, and the implementation of this model has promoted the rapid development of the duck industry in Chengmai County. by 2008, the number of meat ducks in the county has exceeded 13 million, accounting for about 1/5 of the province's total; the annual production of improved breed ducks is more than 18 million, accounting for more than 1/4 of the province's total, and the number of meat ducks has more than doubled compared with 2004. It has become the largest production base of meat duck and breeder duck in Hainan Province. Its products not only meet the needs of the county, but also established a whole island meat duck sales network, the products are mainly sold to Haikou, Sanya, Danzhou, Baisha, Changjiang and other cities and counties, Chengmai Xinwu duck brand enjoys a high reputation in the province. Total fish production has reached 60 million kg, an increase of 86 per cent over 2004.