Villagers return as breeding industry thrives

The village of Zhaonao used to be one of thousands in China that were full of “empty nests”, with many young people moving out to make a living in towns and cities.

Development of the crawfish-breeding industry, however, has made Zhaonao, in Hubei province, bustle again with many villagers returning.

When the village set up an agricultural cooperative to run more than 700 hectares of farmland in 2013, only 50 of the village’s more than 600 households wanted to work for it, said Zhao Changhong, the village head.

“Very few wanted to be farmers. They leased their farmland to the cooperative and went out to work,” he said.

Now, as the popularity of crawfish rises in China, income for farmers working in the village has far exceeded that of those working outside it after Zhaonao adopted an agricultural method that combines rice planting with crawfish breeding.

Previously, people could barely make 15,000 yuan ($2,265) from each hectare of rice field a year, but now they can make 75,000 yuan thanks to the method.

This has attracted at least 100 villagers back and half of the 1,000 laborers in the village now raise animals, Zhao said.

Mao Honglin returned in 2016 after working as an optometrist in Dongguan, a city in Guangdong province, for nine years.

“I had been longing to come back for a long time as I had almost been a stranger to my two daughters. But without the development of the crawfish industry, I don’t think I would have returned,” the 37-year-old said.

He said he can save more than 100,000 yuan annually made from his rice field of about 3 hectares after paying all household expenses.

His monthly salary in Dongguan was about 6,000 yuan.

The cultivation method has also reduced riceplanting costs and made farming more ecologically friendly.

Zhao said crawfish excrement has also greatly reduced the amount of fertilizer needed in the village.

When the method was used for the first time in 2014, 240 metric tons of fertilizer was needed. The amount fell to 80 tons in 2016 and to 40 tons last year.

Villager Chai Shehui, 39, said the cost of planting rice on his 4 hectares of rice fields has fallen by about 70 percent since the method was adopted in the village.

Zhao said it has become difficult for those returning to obtain land to raise crawfish, adding that some villagers have had to leave again for other areas to do so.

“Some villagers even travel as far as the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Some are employed in other regions to contribute their knowledge of crawfish breeding,” he said.