Frog-rice project helps village jump ahead

A combined cultivation model is creating symbiotic success in the countryside. Ma Zhenhuan reports from Hangzhou.

A highly efficient and sustainable model of the combined cultivation of rice and black-spotted frogs has achieved financial and environmental success in recent years in Chengshan, a village in Changxing county, Huzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang.

"This symbiotic model had been functioning for a long time before it bore fruit," said Wu Chuanyi, a frog expert who was the first person in the province to receive a license to breed them.

"In 2010, no one had any professional, practical experience in the artificial breeding of black-spotted frogs in China. But out of love and interest, I conducted a small-scale trial," Wu said, adding that he created a special feed for the frogs consisting of fly maggots, earthworms and yellow mealworms.

Wu said that his original intention was to prevent the frogs from becoming extinct.

"As the market demand for black-spotted frogs was large, I considered breeding them artificially so the wild frog population could be protected and market demand could be met at the same time," he said.

Wu said his model also contributes to the development of the ecological environment, a concept promoted by President Xi Jinping that emphasizes the sustainable coexistence of humanity and the environment.

"Black-spotted frogs are very different from other kinds of frogs," he said. "They are ferocious, with amazing ability to jump. They can catch insects within 1 meter of the rice fields, which fully meets their growth and reproductive needs."