Rice, crawfish a winning combination for farmers

CHANGSHA — Zhang Dehui springs out of bed at around 4 am each morning, while the sky is still dark, swiftly dons his waterproof waders and heads out to the crawfish fields.

He grows rice and farms crawfish in Nanxian county in Hunan province and has devoted 9.07 hectares of land to a method of farming known as "crawfish-rice rotation", which involves planting rice one season, and farming crawfish in the fallow fields the next.

"After midnight during the summer, temperatures are relatively cool, which makes crawfish less irritable and easier to transport," Zhang said, adding that he has built a temporary shelter among the fields, which allows him to sleep there and keep an eye on the crustaceans.