From October 18 to 19, the first Rice-Fish Culture and Industry Development Exchange Conference and the 6th Guangxi Rice-Fish Harvest Festival took place in Guiping City, Guangxi. This event showcased various aspects of the rice-fish industry, including cultural heritage performances, product exhibitions and sales, industry promotion, and a cooking competition.
Organized by the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the Guigang Municipal Government, and the China Aquatic Products Circulation and Processing Association, the conference highlighted the achievements of Guangxi’s rice-fish industry while exploring future trends and development opportunities.
In recent years, Guangxi has prioritized the development of integrated rice-fish farming as a key strategy for increasing food security, boosting agricultural transformation, and promoting rural revitalization. This initiative has led to the establishment of 1.2 million acres of rice-fish farming and the innovation of ten distinct integrated farming models unique to Guangxi.
One notable example is the “one-season rice + rejuvenated rice + fish” model from Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County, recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs as a model for agricultural poverty alleviation. Meanwhile, Guigang City has capitalized on its favorable climate to promote off-season crayfish farming in rice paddies, implementing diverse farming techniques that have collectively established 160,000 acres of integrated rice-crayfish cultivation. This initiative has significantly increased incomes for over 62,900 households by about 3,000 yuan (approximately $430) each.
As a crucial grain production hub in Guangxi, Guiping City has utilized its abundant water resources and geographical advantages to develop various rice-crayfish farming methods, including trenching, flat culture, and combining solar panels with crayfish farming. The cultivated area for rice-crayfish has grown from over 3,000 acres in 2020 to 82,000 acres today, placing it among the leading regions in the province.
Currently, Guiping City is seeing the gradual enhancement of its rice-crayfish industry chain with the establishment of a city-level crayfish trading center and 26 collection and distribution centers in various towns. The city has also created Guangxi’s first temperature-controlled crayfish breeding base, supplying seedlings across eastern Guangxi and beyond. With 324 operational entities in the rice-crayfish sector, more than 3,300 households are experiencing increased incomes, leading to an annual crayfish production of 11,800 tons and a market value of 816 million yuan, making this integrated farming approach a new highlight in local agricultural development.
Academician Gui Jianfang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences emphasized that the rice-fish industry is a vital component of China’s agriculture, preserving a rich farming culture while facilitating rural revitalization, accelerating agricultural transformation, and boosting employment and incomes for farmers. With ongoing advancements in science and technology, significant progress has been made in breeding, farming techniques, and ecological protection within the rice-fish integrated farming sector, resulting in innovative practices across rice-fish, rice-crayfish, and other combinations to enhance production and quality effectively.
