Known for its flourishing crayfish industry, Qianjiang city in central China's Hubei Province has blazed a trail in crayfish, rice and snail co-culture , bringing wealth to local people.

Peng Xuanguo, head of the crayfish industry technology research institute in Hubei, says that by making use of the time and space gaps during the rice growth cycle, this farming mode integrates rice and aquatic species such as bullfrog, rice field eel, river snail and crayfish. As these aquatic species co-exist and mutually benefit within the same ecosystem, they can increase the overall output value of the fields.

"Aquatic species like eels and snails can consume the diseased and weak baby crayfish in the fields, thereby reducing the cultivation density of crayfish," said Peng. He added that each co-culture model can increase revenue by around 1,000 yuan (about $138.18) per mu (about 0.07 hectares). The model integrating crayfish, rice and frog has the highest benefit, increasing revenue by about 50 percent per mu.

Jiang Lele and his business partner Xiao Xiong were the first to develop the inter-farming approach that involves crayfish, rice and river snail in Haokou township of Qianjiang. "Through our practice, we found that 1,000 kilograms of river snails can be produced per mu. This alone increases revenue by over 2,000 yuan," said Jiang. He added that over 300 local villagers had signed cooperation agreements with their cooperative for river snail cultivation and procurement.

Jiang said the mode is implemented on over 2,000 mu of fields at their cooperative. The revenue per mu, which includes aquaculture production and processing, ranges from 6,000 to 7,000 yuan. Last year, the total revenue of the cooperative reached nearly 14 million yuan. The mode has been adopted on over 6,000 mu of land in Haokou.