The crayfish economy has become an important poverty alleviation industry in a south China county, broadening the ways for local people to earn a living.

Shanglin County in Nanning City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is located in a mountainous area. The local people introduced crayfish breeding in 2016.

At the crayfish breeding base in Shanglin, a normal size pond can breed 8,000 kilograms of crayfish every year. Local people have become richer by relying on crayfish breeding.

Yan Zhixin, a crayfish farmer, said that the crayfish in the county are of good quality and sold at a high price thanks to the rich water resources and good climatic conditions in the area.

"These are our high-quality crayfish in Shanglin County. Our crayfish are generally divided into small, medium, big and double sizes," said Yan, adding that the largest size of crayfish weighs about 65 grams.

Feng Yinghong, who comes from central China's Hubei Province and gets married in Shanglin introduced crayfish to the county in 2016.

"From the original two-hectare experimental land to 10-hectares, to the present 40-hectares, basically our annual output value is about four million yuan," said Feng.

It is reported that relying on abundant water resources, Shanglin County actively introduced a high-value fishing industry in recent years. The county promoted 26 cooperatives to develop high-value fishing and breeding projects, and promoted 420 poor households to alleviate poverty by means of industrial bonuses and subsidies, investment and land transfer.

(Cover image via VCG and designed by CGTN's Chen Yuyang. Video edited by CGTN's Zhao Ying.)

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