Farmers harvest snakehead fish in a pond in Rugao, Nantong on Oct 13. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

Farmers in Rugao, Nantong have recently been busy harvesting snakehead fish. The bustling occasion was witnessed by audiences nationwide through the State broadcaster CCTV on Oct 13.

The booming aquaculture industry in Rugao was hailed as a good example of rural revitalization.

The county-level city in Nantong has more than 200 farmers engaged in snakehead fish breeding. A complete snakehead industrial chain – it includes fry breeding, deep processing, fodder production, distribution, and marketing - worth more than 1 billion yuan ($155.3 million) has been formed in Rugao.

With the financial and technical support of the local government, the snakehead fish products have been well-received in more than 30 medium and large cities in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta.

One of the leading snakehead companies in the city, Jiangsu Hongjiu Aquatic Products Co, currently operates snakehead fish farms that span 200 hectares, a live fish logistics center with an annual turnover of 20,000 tons, a snakehead fish fodder factory with an annual output of 30,000 tons, and a fish processing factory with an annual output of 5,000 tons.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, Rugao will further expand the snakehead fish industry and strive to increase the sector's economic aggregate to 3 billion yuan by 2025.