(Photo/Tian Min)

The 21st China International Crayfish Festival opened in Xuyi County of Huai’an City on May 18, when a series of events was organized to showcase the county’s quality products.

Local farmers have been encouraged to use rice paddies to raise crayfish, a popular foodstuff in Chinese cooking. The rice produced in this way won the recognition of "China Geographical Indication Trademark," and the crayfish honored as "China Geographical Indication Agricultural Product".

(Photo/Tian Min)

The opening ceremony also included the auction of 100 kilograms of crayfish caught in the first catch, which netted 256,000 yuan thanks to the competition of ten bidding companies. The use of the money will be supervised by Xuyi Charity Federation for charity activities.

Over the past 21 years, Xuyi’s crayfish has built up a brand value of 21.55 billion yuan, ranking first in the aquatic category of geographical indication products for six consecutive years.

The county now has a crayfish breeding area of 835,000 mu (over 55,000 hectares) and 665,000 mu of combined rice-crayfish farm, with an annual production of 80,000 tons of crayfish.

The county has more than 70 crayfish processing enterprises, which employ nearly 200,000 people in the industry, and nearly 2,000 online stores for the specialty. Xuyi has built a four-pronged business ecosystem that includes cuisine, feed, seasoning and rice.