【Text/Observer Network Zhou Yuanfang】
This is the South American white shrimp, a creature that is a bit curled.
In Binzhou, Shandong, now is the best time to eat it.
In mid-July, Observer Network visited 300 MW of Binzhou City's Zhanhua District and 200 MW of "Fishing-Light Integration" photovoltaic power generation projects in Dongying.
It is evening to climb the tower locally, and the photovoltaic panels shine brightly, the fishing boats in the distance release bait, the sunset in the west, and the pond is full of prawns.
As the leading industry of Binzhou fishery, shrimp farming area reaches 800,000 mu, with "Binzhou shrimp" national geographical indication certification. In 2021, Binzhou's shrimp production exceeded 120,000 tons, accounting for more than 65% of The total production in Shandong Province.
Shrimp farming is an easy to learn and difficult to refine business, with more knowledge, great risk and high returns.
Let's start with the basics.
From Panama, Hawaii to China
First of all, of course, The Penaeus vannamei is not native to Shandong.
According to Wikipedia, in the movie "Forrest Gump", it was this shrimp that made the black brother Bubba think about it, and in the 20th century, it was an important catch for Mexican inshore fishermen and trawlers.
Penaeus vannamei is the scientific name of this shrimp, it is highly adaptable, short growth cycle, low nutritional requirements, strong disease resistance, easy to cultivate under parental artificial conditions, suitable for high-density culture.
As the world's fishery resources continued to decline, by 1973, American fishermen introduced shrimp fry from Panama, and the fishing was gradually replaced by aquaculture, and later, Forrest Gump made a big business in shrimp farms on the Gulf of Mexico.
People of a little age remember how difficult it was to eat shrimp in the past, especially Chinese mainland.
30 years ago, the price of one kilogram of shrimp in China was comparable to ten kilograms of pork.
It is not difficult to imagine that such a business encounters the spring breeze of China's reform and opening up, just like the thunder of the sky stirring the fire of the earth.
In 1988, Shandong Qingdao began to introduce Vannabin shrimp, and in 1997, hu Chaoqun's team from the South China Sea Institute of Oceanography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences introduced Vannabin shrimp to South China for the first time from Hawaii, USA, and overcame the breeding problem.
At that time, a leukoplakia disease suffered by China's shrimp farming industry also became an "assist".
"Judging from the development process of the shrimp farming industry in the mainland, the most headache is the endless number of diseases, of which the mortality rate of leukoplakia syndrome is as high as 95%-98%." He Jianguo, chief scientist of the national shrimp and crab industry technology system and professor of the School of Life Sciences of Sun Yat-sen University, recalled that in the 1990s, affected by the leukoplakia syndrome virus, the traditional shrimp farming industry in the mainland suffered a serious blow, and about 70% of the shrimp farmed in the country died, and in 1992, the mainland shrimp production was 220,000 tons, and by 1997 there were only more than 60,000 tons left.
"They are 90% of the shrimp on the national table"
Since then, this prawn from the Americas has quickly squeezed out its opponents and occupied the large and small ponds in Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hainan, Guangxi and other places. By 2006, the production of penaeus vannamei in mainland China exceeded 1 million tons, accounting for 82% of the national shrimp aquaculture production.
Even at one time, 90% of the shrimp on the national table are them, Hu Chaoqun once told the media that due to the high yield, the body color, shape and size are similar to a variety of shrimp distributed along the coast of the mainland, and merchants and restaurants will hang it on the name of the people familiar with the people everywhere, such as the shrimp, the hemp shrimp, the bright shrimp, and the sand shrimp.
By 2019, the total production of White Shrimp culture in China has reached 1.8156 million tons, and if the total global output of 4.468 million tons released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2017 is calculated, the production of Chinese White Shrimp in South America accounts for about 40% of the world.
However, like many vegetables and meats, China's white shrimp production has a high total output and relatively few exports.
In 2018, global shrimp exports were about 2.49 million tonnes, while China exported only 217,000 tonnes, behind India, Ecuador and Vietnam. At the same time, China has also imported 258,000 tons of shrimp from Ecuador, India, Argentina, Vietnam and other countries.
The world's leading exporter of Penaeus vannamei
Yes, China, with 20% of the world's population, produces nearly 40% of the world's shrimp, but is a net importer of shrimp.
This is the joint effort of Chinese scientists, industrialists, farmers and foodies.
At present, there are 10 new species of Penaeus vannamei that have been recognized by the state, including Bohai No. 1, Haixingnong No. 3, Haimao No. 1, Zhongke No. 1, Zhongxing No. 1, Kehai No. 1, Guihai No. 1, Nonghai No. 1, Haixingnong No. 2, and Guangtai No. 1.
"The total production of Shrimp shrimp fry in South America is about 550 billion, of which the production of shrimp fry of fine species is about 250 billion. The emergence of these new varieties can be said to have truly broken the situation of long-term dependence on foreign seed sources in the past. He Jianguo said, "Overall, at present, the South American white shrimp species independently bred on the mainland have reached the international first-class level and are in the first phalanx." In terms of new breeding technologies, we are one step ahead and are currently focusing on the development of molecular design breeding techniques. ”
Factory or stocking?
On the other hand, with the continuous expansion of the scale of South American white shrimp farming, the breeding threshold has been continuously lowered, and many new farmers have issued a sigh of "difficult to raise" shrimp.
He Jianguo once said that part of the reason is that the progress of Penaeus vannamei seed in South America is faster than the progress of farmers' technology, resulting in farmers not adapting to the seedling, not knowing, unfamiliar, and not clear how to breed.
At present, in China's shrimp farming industry, extensive and intensive models coexist, and the more extensive ones have earthen pond culture and large surface culture mode, with an yield of 25kg-300kg per mu; There are also models of high-density intensive breeding in mechanical and chemical facilities, and the initial input is very high, and the yield is also high, at 2500kg/(manufacturing·mu)-6500kg/(manufacturing·mu). The annual number of breeding is generally in 2-3 (1 can be understood as 1 stubble, observer net note); There is also a high-level pond culture model in between, with a drainage system set up at the central bottom of the pond. The area of a single pond is 1 mu to 3 mu, and the yield per mu is 1250kg/cropping (stubble)-2500kg/manufacturing, which is less input and output than factory in the early stage of this model.
According to the "Report on the Development of the Penaeus vannamei Industry", at present, the shrimp farming in the mainland presents a dual model of the coexistence of a large number of retail households and a small number of large enterprises. Presenting a typical state of dispersion of production subjects is not conducive to the long-term development and healthy growth of the industry.
On the one hand, it is difficult for individual farmers to form a scale effect. The entry and exit threshold of shrimp farming is not too high, many farmers "make money to come in, lose money and leave", unwilling to invest more money in infrastructure construction, the main body of production is unstable, it is more difficult to form a scale, factory.
But for many farmers, the risks are real: even factory production cannot completely avoid large-scale disease problems, on the other hand, the larger the scale of production, the greater the fluctuations in market prices caused by supply and demand.
On the other hand, the phenomenon that the leading enterprises do not have enough driving roles exists, resulting in a series of problems: the degree of industry organization is low, and it is impossible to digest the risk of short-term price fluctuations; The vast majority of farmers and enterprises are sitting on business opportunities, single sales channels, highly dependent on wholesaler chains, ignoring product marketing, lack of brand awareness, quality awareness; In terms of technology promotion, at present, most of them rely on local aquatic technology promotion stations, medicine and feed distributors to carry out training meetings, and the effect is not good; The concept of individual farmers is backward, most of them rely on extensive production experience, it is difficult to implement new breeding models, and the vast majority of farmers follow the old set of breeding technology, and it is difficult to achieve scientific and technological innovation.
Raising shrimp so rolled, do you believe in light?
Back in Binzhou, Shandong Province, through the exchange of local farmers, enterprise employees, technical experts and access to information, the Observer Network found that the "fishing-light integration" breeding promoted by Tongwei, Huawei and local farmers is indeed an attempt to break the above status quo.
Binzhou City, 300MW fishery-light integrated photovoltaic power generation project covers an area of more than 7800 acres, with a total installed capacity of 300MW, the project has an average annual average of about 400 million kWh of electricity during the 25-year economic life of the project, which is currently the largest single "fishery-light integration" project in the country.
300MW fishing-light integrated photovoltaic power generation project in Zhanhua District
The land currently used for photovoltaic shrimp farming was in the past a salt pan that was difficult to use except for salt production.
"Is it South American white shrimp that is kept here?"
"No, inside the pond are salt pan shrimp," local farmers told the observer net.
The so-called saltfield shrimp is likely to be the salt-tolerant species of Penaeus vannamei "Guangtai No. 1", "Kehai No. 1" or "Bohai No. 1".
Local farmers specifically emphasize that they raise "salt field shrimp", perhaps to distinguish them from the general Penaeus vannamei. Unlike the output of thousands of catties of high-density farming in the factory, the salt field shrimp they breed is only raised once a year, with a full period of growth for more than 100 days, and the yield per mu is only about 50 kg.
"Raising chickens has free-range chickens, our shrimp is free-range shrimp, only five or six shrimp fry are put into one square meter, which fully guarantees the activity space of shrimp, and every shrimp is an athlete." Farmers said.
The original ecological breeding model of less and fine has made Yantian shrimp a "high-end shrimp", and the purchase price of the local wharf last year was as high as one kilogram and 40 yuan, and the price of transporting to other places after workshop processing was doubled, and the market demand was strong.
Today, with the continuous improvement of the consumption level of Chinese, the people's purchase of seafood has long passed the stage of simply pursuing quantity, and quality, health, brand effect and social attributes can often bring higher added value to products; Relatively speaking, for the supply side, the era of simply pursuing output and equaling output to economic benefits has also passed.
From this point of view, the view that some scholars or research institutions believe that "high investment, high return, scale and factory is the future of shrimp farming" is at least debatable for farmers who have been tested by the market and nature for many years.
"Whoever directly grabs the rice bowl with the peasants will not have a rice bowl; Whoever adds oil and meat to the peasant's rice bowl will have a rice bowl. Liu Hanyuan, chairman of Tongwei Group, who is a fisherman from a fishing farm, firmly believes that only by allowing farmers to get more benefits can the company promote product sales growth for a long time: "Our concept is that farmers can do it directly, in principle, we do not do it; They do not do well, whether it is technology, supporting services, brand building, etc., are done by us. ”
The staff of the project calculated an account, "according to the local shrimp pond area of more than 7800 acres, the total installed capacity of photovoltaics is 300MW, the average annual online electricity is about 400 million kWh, and the annual operating income of the enterprise is 150-160 million yuan." ...... Tongwei signed a lease agreement with local farmers to lease the water surface of the shrimp pond for photovoltaic power generation, and gave the farmers a rent of 500-600 yuan per mu. ”
For local farmers, photovoltaic panels do not affect the daily farming operations of farmers, although harvesting will affect the dragnet, but the use of Penaeus vannamei habits, harvesting in pond cages at the ripening stage can solve this problem. In addition, the photovoltaic panels have the objective effect of shading, shading the wind and rain on the shrimp pond, reducing the stress response of the shrimp in the breeding process, which is beneficial to the healthy growth of the shrimp. More importantly, farmers can obtain a guaranteed income of 500-600 yuan per mu, which allows them to have more economic surplus when pursuing the quality of shrimp farming in salt pans.
"To put it simply, those who know how to fish don't know the light, and those who know the light don't know how to fish," said Wu Xiaoping, executive deputy general manager of Tongwei New Energy, "If any friends are more familiar with China's agriculture, they will know that whether it is raising pigs or chickens and ducks, there are basically better industrial breeding models, but China's fishery is still in a very scattered state." In this state, it is difficult to gather the technology, funds and business model exploration needed in the process of green low-carbon and transformation and upgrading. ”
Wu Xiaoping said that in the construction process of photovoltaic power plants, the construction threshold of each small unit is very low, but the core problem is how to control the cost and quality to the limit in the process of copying hundreds of thousands of small units of scale, which requires simplifying the management of the entire project construction and supply chain through standardization, so that non-technical costs can be effectively apportioned.
In fact, leading enterprises bear the cost of economies of scale and technological research and development, so as to provide services to ordinary farmers, farmers can lighten up, give play to the advantages of small subject flexibility, and choose not to operate in different environments according to local conditions, which is a win-win cooperation.
The No. 1 document of the Central Committee in 2021 proposes to accelerate the construction of demonstration parks and scientific and technological demonstration parks for the integrated development of rural first, second and third industries, and promote the deep integration of agriculture and tourism, education, culture, health and other industries. In this context, Tongwei believes that it plays a role in promoting the integration of the first, second and third industries and helping the revolution of China's aquatic products industry.
At present, Tongwei has developed and built more than 60 photovoltaic power generation bases based on "fishing and light integration" in more than 20 provinces and cities across the country, including Sihong, Rudong and Yangzhong in Jiangsu, Nanchang and Gao'an in Jiangxi, Huaining and Hexian in Anhui, Qinzhou and Dongxing in Guangxi, Taishan in Guangdong, Binzhou and Dongying in Shandong, Tianmen in Hubei, Changde in Hunan, Tuzuoqi in Inner Mongolia, Daqing in Heilongjiang, etc., with a grid-connected scale of more than 3GW. In addition to shrimp, farmed aquatic products also include grass carp, crucian carp, buckle crab, hairy crab, silver carp, bighead carp, catfish, catfish, sturgeon, rainbow trout, salmon, etc., some products enter the market with the "Tongwei fish" brand, and gradually build a "fishing town" integrating aquaculture, photovoltaic power generation and cultural tourism.
In the movie "Forrest Gump", the shrimp industry is the family business of the black Bubba, his relatives go out to sea to catch shrimp, his mother cooks shrimp for the master, his mother's mother also cooks shrimp for the master, the mother's mother's mother, or cooks shrimp for the master... Later, after Forrest Gump made the shrimp industry bigger, he gave Bubba's mother a large amount of money, and she finally stopped cooking shrimp for others, but hired a white person to cook shrimp for herself.
Although this is a passage in the movie, it can reflect some industry and social reality: cup and plate gluttony, not shrimp farmers.
China with 20% of the population to produce 40% of the world's White Shrimp, will be self-sufficient, China's current annual per capita shrimp share of about 2 kg, if from the absolute number, in fact, not much, and India, Ecuador, Vietnam, Thailand and other shrimp export countries, per capita shrimp share may be even less. At the same time, countless examples in modern times have proved that peasants who are detached from the land and engage in the large-scale production of a single agricultural product, if they are highly dependent on the capitalist globalized market, will be in an extremely disadvantaged market position and even produce many tragic ends.
In this sense, China is exploring the answer to this question in practice.
When we eat shrimp, we may as well think about it, do you believe in light?
Resources:
"South American White Shrimp Industry Development Report", National Shrimp and Crab Industry Technology System
Vannabin shrimp swims from South America to China, Southern Daily, April 15, 2013
South American White Shrimp Breeding "Counterattack", Southern Daily, October 3, 2021
A new species of Penaeus vannamei has been added to the mainland! Whether the seven new domestic shrimp varieties can regain the right to speak in the shrimp market, Agricultural Treasure Book, April 24, 2017
Tongwei's Green Strategy: From "Teaching People to Fish" to "Fishing and Light Integration", the case of Central Europe
"Development Status and Prospect of South American White Shrimp Farming in Shandong Province", Yin Xianghan
"Vannabin Shrimp Film Photovoltaic Intensive Engineering Breeding Experiment", Chen Xieyan
"Analysis of the Cost and Benefit of Factory Farming of Penaeus vannamei in South America: Taking Shandong Province as an Example", Shao Mengting