Yin Xiuqin Raises Locusts and Leads Fellow Villagers onto the Road to Prosperity

Yin Xiuqin is the chairwoman of Xiuqin Breeding Professional Cooperative in Chenda Town, Guoyang County. After returning home from working elsewhere in 2008, she decided to start her own business, so she set up a cooperative specializing in raising locusts. Because of her limited education, Yin Xiuqin took many detours in the process of starting her business. Realizing this, Yin Xiuqin adopted an attitude of learning while farming, and through study and research, she ultimately achieved success. At the same time, she also led her fellow villagers to prosperity together.

The cooperative has also launched gift boxes of locust paste

Refusing to Be Ordinary: Giving Up Migrant Work to Return Home and Start a Business

"When building the shed, pay attention to inserting this thinner pipe into the opening of the thicker pipe, then fix it tightly, and check it repeatedly, otherwise it won't be secure." On the afternoon of April 15, at the Xiuqin Breeding Professional Cooperative in Chenda Town, Guoyang County, chairwoman Yin Xiuqin was teaching cooperative members how to build sheds for raising locusts.

At present, Yin Xiuqin's cooperative has more than 2,000 sheds. Her cooperative has already formed a complete industrial chain from breeding, loading, shipping to delivery. The cooperative has a total of 320 members, drives 460 farming households, and its breeding area has expanded to more than 320 mu, with 1,360 mu planted with forage grass, locust output reaching 150 tons, and sales revenue of about 20 million yuan.

It is understood that before returning home to start her business in 2008, Yin Xiuqin had worked for more than ten years in Shanghai, Guangdong and other places. Although she had not received a very high level of education, Yin Xiuqin was a person unwilling to remain ordinary. She told reporters that over more than ten years of working, she experienced many ups and downs, and felt that it was too difficult to become rich by earning money through migrant work. So she mustered up her courage and decided to return home to start a business, specifically raising locusts.

Learning Techniques: Studying Hard to Improve Quality and Output

In the early days of starting her business, Yin Xiuqin spent more than 10,000 yuan to buy 6 jin of locust seedlings and built one breeding shed. She raised them carefully, and the locust output kept increasing. Four months later, the output reached more than 400 jin. So, on the original basis, she expanded by another 12 sheds. Although the locust output increased, the breeding techniques were not mature, which led to a large number of locust deaths.

Without breeding techniques there is no output, and then there is no talk of becoming rich. Yin Xiuqin realized that a new-type professional farmer must have a certain level of cultural literacy and professional skills. She recognized the necessity and urgency of strengthening learning. "Modern society is developing rapidly, and technology is advancing all the time. If you do not study for even a moment, you fall behind. If new technologies cannot be put into agricultural production, it is impossible to obtain good agricultural returns. The only way is to keep pace with the times, keep learning, and keep improving." She told reporters that having realized this, she adopted this attitude of learning while farming, and through study and research, she finally improved both the output and quality of the locusts.

As her locust breeding techniques matured and the scale expanded, Yin Xiuqin took the lead in establishing the Guoyang County Xiuqin Breeding Professional Cooperative and served as its chairwoman.

Not Forgetting Her Hometown: Leading Fellow Villagers to Prosper Together

Using the technical knowledge she had learned, Yin Xiuqin led the cooperative in developing a set of storage and processing techniques for a series of locust products. This technique was the first of its kind in the country, and 6 national patents have been applied for. She has become a leader in the national locust industry. Those who prosper first help those who prosper later, all moving together toward prosperity. As a person skilled at getting rich, Yin Xiuqin never forgets her hometown and has led her fellow villagers onto the road of escaping poverty and becoming wealthy.

At present, the cooperative helps impoverished people escape poverty by signing agreements with poor households and adopting relevant measures. For example, it uses land transfer to give poor households without labor capacity a stable income. It provides technical training to poor households, lets them participate in the cooperative's breeding and production, and helps them master breeding techniques proficiently; under the guidance of the cooperative, poor households are allowed to breed independently so as to achieve the goal of escaping poverty. Up to now, a total of 2 households with 20 sheds are engaged in breeding, and the cooperative buys back at a high price, 3-4 yuan higher than the market price, effectively increasing their income.

In recent years, Yin Xiuqin has also been constantly improving herself, often going elsewhere to learn breeding techniques and investigate sales markets, actively absorbing the strengths of others, and combining them with her own actual situation, striving to bring insect-based foods into the international market and create greater value.