Xiao Guanfeng introduces his Australian shrimp. [Photo by Wen Bo]

Responding to the rural revitalization strategy, Xiao Guanfeng who holds a major in computer science decided to return to the countryside. A few years ago, he rented a fish pond to set up the Guanming Rural Cooperative in Xinhe Village, Tanzhou Town. Today, Australian shrimp in blue "battle robes" that are raised in the cooperative have won an off-season battle on days when other crayfish are not on the market.

In addition to a bachelor degree of computer software from Harbin Institute of Technology, Xiao Guanfeng also got a master degree of artificial intelligence from Fudan University. After graduation, he engaged in computer work with a number of companies, and he even established his own IT business. A few years ago, when his company was setting up an agricultural platform for Doumen District in Zhuhai, he gained a deep understanding and appreciation for agriculture.

"I found that many farmers work very hard, but they do not know how to deal with diseases, and they often worry about sales channels," Xiao Guanfeng said. Therefore, he is determined to use his return to the countryside, where he can employ scientific and technological knowledge to promote the revitalization of rural industries.

In 2015, he partnered with his friends to rent 140 acres of land in Tanzhou for crop farming. After being battered by Typhoon Hato and Mangkhut, his friends abandoned their businesses. However, Xiao Guanfeng became even more determined to use technology to help traditional agriculture transform and become more resilient. He expanded the cooperative to 230 acres and adjusted the proportion of cultivation and farming: 80% of the land was earmarked for cultivation and 20% for farming.

In Xiao Guanfeng's Guanming Cooperative, one will see that every fish pond is equipped with aerators, automatic feeders and water quality monitoring devices. Each pond is also labeled with a sign indicating the species, the time of release, and any special requirements. Xiao Guanfeng has found a way to switch many of the previously labor-intensive procedures to ones that only need the Internet of Things technology.

He is now also trying fingertip farming. "We rely on internet technology to monitor the growth of aquatic products in the form of video, sensors with real-time sensing of dissolved oxygen, temperature, and so on."

According to Xiao Guanfeng, he is now looking for university cooperation in the hopes of turning Australian shrimp pond farming into indoor three-dimensional farming.

At present, Australian shrimp are popular on the market, and those he raises are in short supply at restaurants in Zhongshan and Zhuhai. For these reasons, Xiao Guanfeng has been recommending shrimp farming to local farmers in Xinhe Village and surrounding areas.

At present, Xiao Guanfeng's cooperative even has a cultivation room, which specializes in small-scale shrimp breeding. He plans to work with research institutes to produce better seedlings, raise a high-quality variety on a larger scale, and help villagers to achieve common prosperity.

The cooperative is currently signing supply agreements with surrounding high-end restaurants, selling products on e-commerce platforms, and striving to open up export channels to the rest of Southeast Asia.