There are signs that China’s efforts to professionalize its aquaculture sector is finally paying off and bringing younger participants into the sector, making for better quality, higher-margin products.
With China’s Agriculture Ministry already making “ecological production” its priority for aquaculture in 2017, official media has been lionzing Liu Zhi Sheng, a 26-year-old farmer of Mandarin fish in Hubei province, who learned his all-eco, low-intensity approach to fish-farming at an aquaculture training center in Jingzhou city.
Traceability of inputs, as well as low stocking density, are hallmarks of Liu’s production with a feed mix of maize, wheat and rapeseed sourced locally. Liu has also been praised for selling his fish on-site as well as to local wholesale markets.
China’s aquaculture sector has long been hampered by a surfeit of small-scale, untrained farmers chasing what were perceived to be good profits when aquaculture was a largely export-oriented business.
However, the urbanization of Chinese society in recent years and emptying out of rural areas has created space for lower-intensity, higher-quality production aimed at domestic consumption.
China has a long tradition of using “model” workers and officials to promote official goals. Perhaps the biggest draw for would-be ecological fish farmers will be Liu’s stated annual income as reported by the Wuhan Daily News: CNY 300,000 (USD 43,605.60, EUR 40,558.18), making Liu very wealthy by the standards of China’s small-scale farmers and industrial workers, many of whom make less than one-tenth of Liu’s stated annual take.