Gong Zaifu's 20 Years of Hardship in Duck Farming Blaze a Distinctive Path to Prosperity
When people talk about duck farmers in Huanren County, one name invariably comes to mind: Gong Zaifu of Liuhe Village, Huanren Town, Huanren Manchu Autonomous County. His story of more than 20 years of unremitting duck farming has moved many people. "You must persevere in whatever you do; only through perseverance can you succeed." Looking back on his entrepreneurial journey, Gong Zaifu cannot help but sigh with emotion.
In 1997, encouraged and guided by the government's policies to enrich the people, Gong Zaifu, a Party member from Liuhe Village, took the lead in buying 500 ducklings, resolutely embarking on his own path to prosperity through entrepreneurship. As is well known, ducks are a gregarious poultry species with relatively high immunity, but once disease spreads among them, it can infect the entire flock in an extremely short time, causing severe economic losses. In the early days of his business, lacking mature breeding experience and techniques, Gong Zaifu was often at a loss when he saw ducks fall ill. Sometimes he would stand observing the sick ducks for two or three hours at a stretch, and he even lost sleep all night, so anxious and fretful that he could not speak for days.
Gong Zaifu clearly remembers that one year on the third day of the Chinese New Year, in order to get treatment for his sick ducks, he went alone to the Anshan area to consult a duck disease expert. Because all the restaurants were closed at that time, he stood by the roadside, hungry and anxious, and walked several li before he found a small shop still open. The kind-hearted shopkeeper made him a bowl of instant noodles, and only then did he get a bite to eat.
After more than 100 days of raising them, the first batch of ducks finally began to lay eggs. To sell his duck eggs, in the dead of winter, Gong Zaifu pushed a handcart alone through the streets and alleys selling eggs. To save a bit of money, he would not even buy himself a warm steamed bun. Sometimes, even if a restaurant only wanted 10 duck eggs, Gong Zaifu insisted on delivering them to the owner within the agreed time. "Honesty is most important in business. People buy my duck eggs because they think highly of me, and I absolutely cannot betray their trust." Many times, when questioned and rejected by others, Gong Zaifu silently endured it and never argued with anyone. Over time, everyone was moved by his strong will and gradually came to accept his duck eggs.
Later, in order not to affect the water quality around the duck farm, Gong Zaifu tried dryland duck farming. Drawing on the duck-raising experience he had gained over the years from Anshan, Liaoyang and other places, he learned to mix duck feed himself and to regulate the temperature inside the duck farm according to seasonal changes. This not only saved on feeding costs but also made the ducks stronger and stronger, and greatly increased the egg-laying rate. Gong Zaifu also developed a skill: he can collect all the duck eggs in the pen within a dozen minutes, and he can judge the ducks' physical condition based on their egg-laying rate and eating habits, immediately isolating any that show signs of illness.
In 2012, with the support and help of the Huanren Town Party Committee and government, Gong Zaifu successfully applied for and registered the Fuyan Duck Farm, and leased nearly 200 mu of wasteland around Huquan Village. Today, having grown from just over 500 ducks at the start to more than 8,000, with daily egg production reaching over 1,000 jin and annual income of more than 300,000 yuan, he has become the county's famous "Duck Farming King." Besides selling to major supermarkets, markets and shops within the county, his products are also sold to surrounding cities such as Benxi, Tonghua and Kuandian. In 2015, in order to expand production, he built a new duck farm covering 20 mu and 4 pickling pools, introduced a salted duck egg production line, and began gift-boxed branded sales, striving to sell his products to more distant markets.
"Next, I plan to plant some organic, healthy crops on the surrounding wasteland, so that I can also benefit a little from the large-scale farming industry!" Gong Zaifu told the reporter, pointing to a large expanse of open land before him.