Free-range chicken farming helps a woman from Bozhou get rich
On May 22, at the Xiyuan Ecological Park in Shibali Town, Qiaocheng District, Bozhou City, flocks of free-range chickens ran through the woods pecking at the tender grass on the ground. Saying goodbye to the traditional penned-raising model, free-range chickens have "pecked" open the road to prosperity for Hu Jingjing, and the ecological park has also become her "green bank."
"Raising more than 500 laying hens under the trees brings in more than 2,000 yuan in a single season." Picking up eggs from the grass nests as she spoke, Hu Jingjing told the reporter that she also raises more than 1,000 meat chickens under the trees, for visitors who come sightseeing to choose and eat in their own "pastoral restaurant," which is another source of income. In addition, the 3 strawberry greenhouses she and her husband planted have already put more than 200,000 yuan in income into their pockets this year.
In 2009, Hu Jingjing graduated from Anhui Science and Technology University with a major in agronomy, and went to work for an ecological agriculture company in Zhejiang as a technical adviser for sightseeing agriculture. Because she had never found a sense of belonging while working away from home, homesickness became an emotion that lingered in Hu Jingjing's heart. While working away, she always paid attention to the agricultural development of her hometown and looked for opportunities to return home and start a business.
In 2014, Hu Jingjing learned that Bozhou was vigorously developing agricultural eco-tourism and supporting college graduates returning to their hometowns to start businesses, and she strengthened her confidence in returning home to start a business. After obtaining her husband's consent, she resigned and went home to start a business, taking out all her savings to carry out land transfer and embarking on the entrepreneurial path of ecological sightseeing agriculture.
"In the first year after returning home, I transferred more than 20 mu of land and tried growing honey peaches and grapes, and they bore fruit the second year. I gave the fruits of my harvest to relatives, friends and neighbors around me, and after tasting them they praised them endlessly," Hu Jingjing said. In July 2015, Hu Jingjing established the Bozhou Qiaocheng Xiyuan Fruit Planting Professional Cooperative, with registered capital of 1 million yuan. In November of that year, the cooperative completed the signing of transfers for more than 200 mu of land, with more than 1,500 free-range chickens raised under the trees and more than 100 Bama miniature pigs. That year the cooperative employed more than 30 villagers, and that year it helped surrounding farming households increase their income by an average of more than 8,000 yuan per household.
"I thank the government's good policies for providing us with the conditions to return home and start a business," Hu Jingjing said. Her fruit-picking garden has already been built into a modern agricultural demonstration park integrating specialty dining, leisure, fruit picking and science education. Speaking of future development plans, Hu Jingjing was full of confidence. They will make full use of the park's water and soil resource advantages, scientifically divide the areas, develop large-scale planting, and build multiple theme orchards with unique ecological and cultural characteristics, both meeting market demand for fruit and ensuring the diversity of the park's landscape and the scale of economic benefits, realizing an ecological sightseeing agriculture model of "one area with multiple parks, one park with multiple scenery, and a combination of forest and scenery."