Prawns lead to Zhuhai-Israel pacts on hi-tech farming

Zhuhai Agricultural Investment Holding Group Co signed $3 million in deals with Israel-based Trendlines Group and Tiran Shipping at the 3rd China-Israel Investment Summit being held June 27 and 28. The investment is to jointly incubate and construct hi-tech agricultural projects.

The summit, held twice last year, was upgraded on an unprecedented scale, and welcomed 5,200 business representatives, investors, and scholars from both countries to discuss industry trends and seek business cooperation at a series of forums and B2B meetings.

Zhuhai CLZ Investment Co, a subsidiary of Zhuhai Agricultural Investment Holding Group, agreed with Tiran Shipping to jointly cultivate all-male giant freshwater prawn larvae (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) and young prawns, with 5 million yuan ($735,284) for the first-phase investment.

Signing ceremony at 3rd China-Israel Investment Summit [Photo by Li Jianshu / Zhuhai Daily]

Cultivating such a commercially important large, highly reproductive, and viable freshwater prawn species is still a global monopoly technology. However, with professional technical guidance provided by Tiran Group, it is to be easier to overcome technical difficulties and more than double economic returns.

According to the agreement, CLZ will manage daily production and market exploitation as well as build a standard fish farm to cultivate more aquatic animals such as genetically improved red tilapia from Israel. Other advanced agricultural and fisheries technologies will also be imported.

Meanwhile, Zhuhai Agricultural Investment Holding Group will partner with Trendlines -- an Israeli venture capital firm specializing in incubation, seed/startup, and early stage investments -- to build a modern agri-tech joint venture incubating and commercializing hi-tech agricultural projects. The first-phase investment is estimated at $1 million.

The agreement stipulates that the Zhuhai company will mainly provide capital and local resources while the Israeli company is to focus on technologies and the incubator's operational management.

In addition, the parties will establish a US Dollar Currency Fund to invest in technology-based agricultural startups in Israel and Singapore, and assist in their initiation and development in China.