Fish, rice harvested together from Guizhou paddy fields

Farmers catch fish in their harvested paddy fields. [Photo/ddcpc website]

This year, something special is taking place in Chengxi village, Gulong town – in the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, in Southwest China's Guizhou province – where farmers are currently busy harvesting both rice and fish from the same paddy fields that are home to both.

In 2022, the village took advantage of its rich natural environment and encouraged local farmers to simultaneously plant rice and breed fish.

Wang Wencheng, one of the farmers, has done so in more than 50 mu (3.33 hectares) of paddy fields.

"This year's rice output is good and the fish breeding in the paddy fields has also been effective," Wang declared.

"The yield of fish per mu is about 40 kilograms and the high-quality rice has been ordered by customers at prices of between 3 yuan ($0.42) and 5 yuan per 500 grams," he added.

Yang Shenghong, Party secretary of the village, said that its average yield of fish per mu was 40 kg, generating about 2,000-3,000 yuan of income.

In recent years, Gulong town has integrated its land resources and developed a parallel rice and fish breeding industry to increase the earnings of local farmers.