Panjin claws its way upward

Northeast region farms start to challenge rivals from the south

Crabs in a paddy field in Panjin, in Northeast China's Liaoning province. Thanks to technical and policy supports from the local government, Panjin's crab farmers have overcome many problems associated with raising crabs in northern China, where there are not as many ponds as in southern China. As a result, they turned to the rice fields, a move which proved to be very popular and successful. [Photo/China Daily]

September is the busiest season for Sun Xiuling. "I haven't slept for two nights. I just got free so I could wash my face with cold water to wake me up," said the bloodshot-eyed 50-year-old woman.

Sun, who lives in Hujia township, Panjin, in Northeast China's Liaoning province, is famous for breeding and trading crabs. Panjin is one of the three well-known sources for hairy crabs in China. And the only market in the country specializing in selling crabs is located in Hujia township.

Autumn is the best time to eat crabs. As a result, thousands of dealers across the country pour into the 24-hour Hujia market. Lines of trucks can stretch several kilometers even at 3 am.

"It's hard to catch crabs during the day. They come out at night. So usually we catch them at night and package them in boxes at daybreak," said Sun.

Her 20 square meter store in the market is filled with glass containers in which the crustaceans crawl over each other. Six workers are busy weighing and wrapping them. Outside her store, packed boxes are piled as high as two meters.

"This is just a small part of it. Most were sold at daybreak. I can sell more than 5,000 kilograms of crabs a day during this season," she said.

Besides the endless business, what makes Sun sleepless are two national awards she won on Sept 21 - the gold medal and the best germplasm (crab nursery) award in the Liaohe River Cup national freshwater crab contest.

"It's the first time I have won national prizes. It's not only praise for my products, but also an affirmation for Panjin crabs. It means that Panjin crabs have the same quality as the most famous hairy crabs from Yangcheng Lake in Jiangsu province or even more so," she said excitedly.

'Golden industry'

Sun started her career with crabs in the 1990s. Now she contracts more than 67 hectares to breed and farm the crustacean with annual output reaching about 100 tons.

She is not the only farmer now benefiting from the crab industry. In Panjin, about 120,000 people are engaged in the "golden industry", she said.

According to the Ocean and Fisheries Bureau of Panjin, the city's crab cultivation area was 100,000 hectares with an annual output of 51,000 tons, valued at 2.8 billion yuan ($441 million) in 2011. The city's crab production contributed more than 11 percent of local farmers' per capita income this year, said Han Yinglin, a divisional director for fisheries and seafood at the bureau.

"The industry contributes 1,400 yuan a year to farmers' annual incomes, accounting for 11.5 percent of their per capita income. It's really an industry that is filling our villagers' wallets," he added.

Bai Qingkui, who was a technician at a local official institution, quit his job to cultivate crabs in 1998. The number of his staff increased from one to more than 30 and his cultivation area expanded from just a few acres to 20 hectares. "I used to earn about 10,000 yuan a year but now I earn as much as 2 million yuan a year," the 52-year-old businessman said.

His company covers the entire industry chain, including breeding, cultivation and trading. "Thanks to the crab industry, I changed my bicycle to a car and changed my shabby cottage to a villa," he said.

"Taking Panshan county as an example, 78,000 people benefited from the industry. As the main crab producing area of Panjin, the county's crab output was 2.05 billion yuan in 2011, accounting for 10 percent of the country's total. At least 2,000 yuan of local farmers' annual per capita income come from the crab industry," said Yan Baiwen, head of the county's crab industry association.