Beautiful picture of walking｜Ningxia Helan: "Rice-fish symbiosis" takes a new path of ecological agriculture

In June 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping said during an inspection in Helan County, Ningxia, that attention should be paid to resolving the rice-water conflict, using water-saving technologies, actively developing water-saving, high value-added farming industries, and protecting the Yellow River water resources.

Helan County is located at the foot of Helan Mountain and in the hinterland of the Yinchuan Plain Yellow River Irrigation Area. The drought here is short of rainfall and evaporation is strong. Long-term irrigation from the Yellow River has raised the groundwater level. Salt content continues to accumulate on the surface as water evaporates. Large areas of land have become saline-alkali wastelands. The soil has high salt content and low land output benefits.

In recent years, the local area has vigorously promoted integrated rice and fishery farming and the "fishing to control alkali" model. By digging ditches in rice fields to breed fish, crabs, ducks and other aquatic animals, a natural cycle of planting and breeding ecosystem has been built: rice provides a shaded environment and natural food for aquatic animals. The activities of animals can not only loosen the soil and prey on pests, but their excrement can also be used as organic fertilizer for rice. This three-dimensional circulation planting system of "rice-fish symbiosis" improves the soil structure and transforms Baijiantan into a high-yield fertile land with rice and fish. The former ordinary villages have been transformed into ecological check-in places. Local farmers have completed their identity transformation and been "organized" into the industry chain integrating agriculture and tourism, and their incomes have continued to increase.

The practice of "rice-fish symbiosis" in Helan County provides a model for ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. It is not only a vivid interpretation of the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are mountains of gold and silver", but also shows that as long as the areas along the Yellow River are based on resource endowments and follow ecological laws, they can fully embark on a sustainable development path of ecological beauty, industrial prosperity, and people's prosperity, making the Yellow River truly a happy river that benefits the people.