CHINA’S GUIZHOU GAINS FROM UNESCO-LISTED RICE-FISH-DUCK ECOSYSTEM

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 (Bernama) – Congjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, home to many ethnic groups, inherits an ancient and charming traditional Chinese agriculture, vast expanses of mountain slopes carved into rice paddies where rice, fish and ducks flourish in co-existence.

The agricultural feat of growing one season of rice, keeping a batch of fish and raising a batch of ducks in the same rice paddy has been inherited for thousands of years in Congjiang, according to a statement.

The rice-fish-duck ecosystem in the county was listed as a pilot project for the protection of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in 2011 and became the first batch of important agricultural cultural heritages in China in 2013.

The rice fields provide natural food for fish and ducks, who in turn, remove pests and weeds from the fields, greatly reducing the use of pesticides and herbicides. Also, fish and duck dung provides natural organic fertiliser for rice, where rice, fish and ducks are harvested from one rice field at the same time.

The county has made full use of the rice-fish-duck ecosystem, protecting the agricultural cultural heritage and helping local people get rid of poverty and achieve rural revitalisation at the same time.

During the 15th conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity held in Canada in December 2022, the rice-fish-duck ecosystem in Congjiang County demonstrated to the world the ancestral wisdom of farming and biodiversity conservation experiences of local people for thousands of years.

In 2023, the ecosystem in Congjiang was collected and recognised for its excellence during the fourth call of the Global Solicitation on Best Poverty Reduction Practices.

Congjiang County boasts Kam Rice of China, a special kind of rice that has been domesticated for thousands of years by the local Dong people in Guizhou. With ethnic groups accounting for 90 per cent of its population, the county is home to rich and colourful ethnic cultures and reputed as the national ecological cultural gene park.

During the harvest season in autumn, rows of golden rice hang in the villages, reshaping a beautiful landscape.

-- BERNAMA