At dawn on August 21, in Xinshan Village, Xuantan Town, Luzhou's Luxian County, the rice paddies were still quiet as Gao Dalun, chairman of the Luxian Haimu Breeding and Farming Cooperative, and local farmers began their busy day. Bending down together, they hauled up nets filled with blue-green, long-clawed giant freshwater prawns, still lively and leaping. This is the peak harvest season for Luxian's giant freshwater prawns, and for the past month, Gao has spent every day in the fields with farmers, catching, transporting, and selling the prawns without a moment's rest.

"We're catching this batch according to yesterday's orders and shipping them directly to aquatic product markets and restaurants in Luzhou, Chengdu, and Chongqing," Gao said. "At a retail price of 60 yuan per jin, we've already sold over 100,000 jin." Three months ago, these prawns were just tiny larvae air-freighted from Zhejiang. To understand today's success, one must look back at a transformation that began several years ago.

Luxian County has practiced integrated rice-aquaculture farming for over a decade, with crayfish as the primary product. "We used to use the '3411' model, harvesting three crops of crayfish a year," Gao explained. But every April, when Hubei's crayfish flooded the market, local prices took a severe hit. "We started thinking—could we raise something else during that gap to avoid the peak season?" The giant freshwater prawn, known as the "Freshwater Shrimp King," is prized for its large size, firm flesh, and fast growth, and is highly popular in the Sichuan-Chongqing consumer market. Yet almost no one farmed it locally, and transporting it from other provinces was costly and caused heavy losses, driving prices even higher.

"If we could raise them right in the rice paddies, wouldn't that fill the market gap perfectly?" Gao slapped his thigh and got to work. But things were far from smooth at first. In the first year, he experimented with 8 mu and lost everything—oxygen deprivation, unsuitable water temperatures, and mass larval deaths. He analyzed the failures, consulted experts, and made repeated adjustments. The second year, he tried again with 27 mu and finally succeeded, achieving a yield of 100 jin per mu. "At that time, no one had ever raised giant freshwater prawns in rice paddies—we were the first."

After years of experimentation, he gradually developed a "double rice, double shrimp" model: in April, after transplanting the mid-season rice, he releases giant freshwater prawn larvae, which are harvested continuously from July to October; in October, after the prawns are collected and the ratoon rice is harvested, he releases crayfish larvae. Taking advantage of southern Sichuan's mild winter climate, the crayfish hit the market before and during the Spring Festival, when prices double. This precise alignment of time and space allows the same field to achieve "year-round productivity with stacked benefits."

Unlike the intensive pond farming used in Guangdong and Guangxi, Gao took a different path. "They stock 20,000 larvae per mu; we only put 3,000 in our paddies." That number is the optimal density he found through repeated trials—too low wastes the field, too high stunts growth. "3,000 is just right—the prawns grow bigger, yields are solid, feed costs are lower, and it saves money." The plankton and insects in the paddies also serve as natural feed for the prawns. "Look at this size—each one weighs over one liang!" Gao said, scooping up a prawn with a smile. The flesh quality and taste of these rice-field prawns are noticeably superior to pond-raised ones.

In 2022, the cooperative connected with the Zhejiang Freshwater Fisheries Research Institute and began air-freighting larvae from Zhejiang each year. This year, they introduced a new variety that grows faster and has stronger disease resistance. The cooperative also built its own larval rearing greenhouse, further boosting survival rates. Having carved out his own path, Gao wanted to bring more people along. Today, he has signed agreements with about 50 farming households in Luxian County, providing larvae and free technical guidance, plus a guaranteed purchase price of 40 yuan per jin—prawns are collected right at the pond gate. "The purchase price adjusts with market conditions; this year, the highest we've paid was 52 yuan per jin," he said.

However, giant freshwater prawns are far more delicate than crayfish. Gao imposes three strict requirements on his farmers: "First, all wild fish in the pond must be removed so they don't compete with the prawns for food; second, water quality must meet standards—pH, ammonia nitrogen, and other indicators must pass, and the water needs both algae and beneficial bacteria; third, dissolved oxygen levels must be sufficient." Although the technical bar is high, the numbers keep farmers motivated. Zhao Liangrong, who has leased over 100 mu in Xuewan Village, Fangdong Town, for "double rice, double shrimp" farming, has sold nearly 500 jin of giant freshwater prawns per day over the past week. "This year's harvest is excellent—yields reach 200 jin per mu, and I expect a total output of over 20,000 jin." Zhao calculated: at the guaranteed price of 40 yuan per jin, this year's giant freshwater prawns alone will bring in over 100,000 yuan. "Combined with two rice crops and one crayfish crop, that's 400,000 yuan a year."

Today, the "double rice, double shrimp" model has been fully rolled out across Luxian County. Luo Qigang, head of the Fisheries and Fishery Administration Section of the Luxian County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, said the county's total farming area under this model has reached over 12,000 mu, with an average yield of 160 jin per mu for giant freshwater prawns and an estimated output value of over 70 million yuan. As baskets of prawns were loaded onto trucks, Gao stood on the ridge with a smile: "Once the prawns are sold, we'll release the crayfish larvae next. They'll hit the market around the Spring Festival—that's another good harvest waiting."