The season is here for taking juvenile crabs to market. [Photo/WeChat account: weigg6666]
Crab breeding is the main industry in Daiji community in the Taizhou Medical High-tech Zone, located in Taizhou city, East China's Jiangsu province, which boosts the collective economy and increases the incomes of locals.
Enterprising villager Xi Guiping rented 37.6 hectares of ponds in Daiji community in 2016 to start breeding river sand crabs.
Crabs with a large size and a fresh and sweet taste quickly became in short supply in the market, which got Xi thinking about raising juvenile crabs herself.
So, in early 2024, she set aside 24 hectares from the original crab pond specifically for raising juvenile crabs and cooperated with Shanghai Ocean University, inviting six technical personnel to provide long-term on-site know-how.
"The Daiji community is connected to the Yangtze River to the south and the river water can be directly introduced into the crab pond. The excellent water quality boosts the growth of juvenile crabs," said Xi.
Last year, Xi bred about 105,000 kg of juvenile crabs at a price of 80 yuan ($11) per kg and she expects to earn over 8 million yuan this year.