Snail Development Professional Committee of China
     Deputy Director: Lu Shifang

How will the snail develop? This is an important question that people care. See how about the prospects for a project will be, it mainly depends on three factors: first, the value of the project is high or low; second, the cultivation technology is difficult or easy; thirdly, the capacity of the market is big or small.
Firstly look from the value, the snail and shark's fin, dried scallop and abalone have stood side by side for four major famous dishes in the world. The snail contains more than 20 kinds of amino acids and more than 10 kinds of trace elements and abundant snail enzyme, SOD, etc... The protein content is one per cent higher than soft-shelled turtle, 10 per cent higher than pork, 3 per cent higher than beef and 6 per cent higher than egg, while the fat content is respectively 1/18, 1/272, 1/92, 1/70.The selenium content of each gram in the snail meat is 0.45 micrograms, it is 4.5 times of the tea¡¯s. It was early record that the snail could cure the disease in the "Compendium of Materia Medica". The modern traditional Chinese medicine generally recognizes that the snail has the efficacy of detoxification, disinfection and detumescence, etc. It also has the accessorial functions of treating on the diseases, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high fat of blood, bronchitis, prostatitis, evil sore, cancer, etc...
Secondly look from the cultivation technology. It is already mature to cultivate and breed whether indoors or outdoors. The output bred outdoors can be up to 2-3 tons per mu.
Thirdly see from the capacity of the market. The snail¡¯s domestic and international markets are very wide because the snail food accords with the new trends to choose the nature, wild, nutritional and healthful food. The annual requirements of the snail products are up to 400,000 tons in the international market at present. Specially, the United States imports $300 million worth of snails annually. At the same time, the price is very high too. The factory price of the snail frozen meat in New York is equivalent to 362.39 yuan. An escargot appetizer taken 6 snails could range from $7.00 to $18.00. The price of the fresh snails is equivalent to 116.11 yuan/g in some areas, such as France, Spain, etc... The price of the White Meat Snail Can, we have exported, reaches to US $9000 to US $14000 per ton. The White Meat Snail is a new variety through seeds batches selection with efforts of more than ten years. Its meat is delicate, white; its body is very big. It is a treasure that can be found only in China. There will be a stronger competitiveness in the international market. The potential market in the domestic market is relatively wide too. The snail food has already become the delicious food in the hotels and restaurants.

In recent years, Chinese people have already developed some new products taken the snails as the main materials, for example, the health food series, biochemical medicine series, compound nutritional beverage series, cosmetic series, game series, frozen meat series, etc... A few of snail medicines will be produced in batches, which can cure some diseases such as bronchitis, prostatitis, etc...
Certainly, we should see that somebody resell the snail breeders at high price to make high profit, even each of the wild Achatina fulica breeder is sold up to 20 yuan. The leading enterprises with actual strength and responsibility are few in China. The industry chain of the snail development remains to form and strengthen.
So, it must take the road to industrialization to make the snail develop positively and safely and healthily. And promise the following six points:
I. Make the core science. You should try your best to speak science on the cultivation technology, products processing and public opinions, not use high sounding words and play low-key and get out of tune.
II. Commercialize the characteristics. Stress the scope effect; prevent that irresponsible behavior from reselling the breeders at high price.
III. Make the overall arrangement in definite area. Develop the snail bases in an area, not working out scattering blossoms like the fairy. Establish the professional villages and towns specializing in cultivating the snails according to the way of "market + company + farmer".
IV. Make production specialization. Pay attention to make up the production factors in a planned way and socialize division of labor.
V. Do integrative management. Guide the snail development with the system engineering theory. Impel the science, teach, agriculture, industry and trade be joined each other, and form the new integrative situation.
VI. Socialize service. At present, it is the best needed to get the help from the government at policies, funds and managements in order to support a batch of leading enterprises and establish and amplify the socialization service system of combined by the enterprises, associations, the information network as the main part.

The development of the snail project in our province is started relatively early. The Provincial Scientific and Technological Committee have already listed the snail project into the star plan. Then there have appeared the leading enterprises and a batch of professional demonstration farms which were engaged in the snail industrialization development. And have established the e-commerce web sites such as CHINA SNAIL DEVELOPMENT NET and CHINA SPECIALITY NET and so on, which specialized in the special products development like the snails; then open the commercial road to move forward the international market.
We believe; the little snail can be expected to form one great characteristic industry and open up the big market if we try hard together.