Wen Zhuohua is observing the growing condition of fish fries.[Photo by Miao Xiaojian]

Wen Zhuohua, a 59-year-old farmer, was busy at a 100-mu (6.67 hectares) farming base in Wulan Village, Huangpu Town on May 22. The next day, more than 10,000 kilograms of grass carp fries would be delivered to customers from Nanlang Town and Yangjiang City from.

Wen Zhuohua's breeding base was a microcosm of the aquaculture industry in Huangpu Town. The existing aquaculture area of Huangpu is nearly 30,000 mu (2,000 hectares), with total output of 30,000 tons aquatic products in 2018. From these stocks, more than 5,000 tons are supplied to Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Macao each year.

Grass carp cultivation is well representing Huangpu's aquaculture industry. It accounts for about 60% of grass carp species production in China.

The township government has rolled out the Supporting Agricultural Production Development Program 2018-2020 to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of traditional agriculture. Thanks to this supportive program, Wen Zhuohua has received rewards and subsidies for winning the special farmer title and purchasing agricultural machinery. In March this year, he also applied for the Zhongshan Model Family Farm award .

It is the aquaculture industry in Huangpu that has a completely innovative structure. There are not only four traditional aquaculture fish species, with grass carp as the most productive one, but also many emerging fisheries with special features and considerable market value.

In Hengdang Village in Huangpu, there is a 765-mu (51 hectares) large-scale aquaculture farm named Shunli Aquaculture Farm. It focuses on breeding Chinese long-snout catfish and Chinese softshell turtles.

"Different from traditional ones, Shunli Aquaculture Farm has a special management mode. They employ professional and technical personnel, take pollution-free farming as their standard, visit successful farms every year to absorb new technology for scientific farming, and train their members and staff," said a staff representative from the Huangpu Agricultural Department.