Yan'an, Shaanxi Turns Chicken Farming into a Big Industry
Zhang Zhilong, 37 this year, took the village official exam in 2010 and was assigned to Jiaokouhe Town, Luochuan County. Over the past six years, he actively contacted relevant county departments to secure 32,000 yuan in poverty alleviation funds for poor households in Lingqian Village and Yaoxianhe Village. In April 2016, he personally spent over 8,000 yuan to buy young chickens for 9 poor households in Yaoxianhe Village, and also ran around actively to help poor households sell their eggs, helping villagers escape poverty and become prosperous. He has been awarded the titles of "Outstanding College-Graduate Village Official," "Outstanding Communist Party Member," and "Poverty Alleviation Model," among others.
A Promise to Villagers Must Be Kept
"Zhilong, you've come!" Recently, the reporter and Zhang Zhilong arrived at the home of Li Wentang, a farmer in Yaoxianhe Village. Seeing us, Li Wentang came up with a smile and invited us inside for tea. After entering, he brewed tea on the stove while chatting with us about his family's situation. This is a large family of 8, with elders above and children below. Previously, the family's income came from 9 mu of orchard. Although that's not a small amount, because the land is in a river valley area, the temperature and sunlight are somewhat worse than on the plateau, so the annual income was very low. "Later, the Jiaokouhe Town government sent us Zhang Zhilong. He spent his own money to buy chicks for the poor households in our village, and now our lives are much better," Li Wentang said happily.
Talking about his original intention in buying chicks for farmers, Zhang Zhilong said: "After taking office, I learned that several chicken-raising households in the village had more eggs than they could eat and wanted me to ask around to see who wanted free-range eggs. After I posted on WeChat Moments, I found quite a lot of people wanted them, and the eggs sold out quickly. I thought, the market for free-range eggs is pretty good, so I wanted these farmers to raise more chickens and sell more eggs, so they could earn more income." Zhang Zhilong said that in March last year, after having this idea, he went to the county's Civil Affairs Bureau and Poverty Alleviation Office to inquire whether there were support policies he could secure, and finally learned that the money for buying chicks upfront had to come from his own pocket, and only after reaching a certain scale would there be some support policies. Zhang Zhilong said: "There was no funding available, but I had already told the farmers about expanding their chicken-raising scale. Having promised the villagers, I had to get it done even if I paid out of my own pocket." After more than a month of asking around, he finally bought "Red Ke chickens" with a higher survival rate in Fuping County. Zhang Zhilong then spent his own money to buy 450 chicks for the poor households and brought them back to the village to distribute to 9 households. Hearing this, village director Liu Baiqi couldn't help interjecting: "I know all about the chick-buying. Zhilong really put his heart into it, contacting people for over a month. He truly did a great and practical good deed for our village!"
Free-Range Chickens Lay "Golden Eggs"
Speaking of this year's chicken-raising "grand plan," Zhang Zhilong said with full confidence that he wants to expand the scale, contact some supermarkets and canteens to have these regular customers purchase the village's eggs and live chickens, and also conduct retail sales through proper e-commerce platforms, striving to make the "Yaoxianhe Free-Range Eggs" brand known within the year.
At this point, Li Wentang's wife placed several trays of freshly collected eggs on the kang and discussed egg packaging with Zhang Zhilong. Because Li Wentang's family sells pure free-range eggs, Zhang Zhilong wanted to use an earthy gray tone to highlight this characteristic, but Li Wentang's wife felt the packaging wasn't colorful enough and the brand name wasn't big enough. The two each expressed their views, and for a moment they couldn't reach a conclusion. To better sell "Yaoxianhe Free-Range Eggs," Zhang Zhilong put in a lot of effort. He had someone design packaging boxes, posted ads on his WeChat Moments, leveraged his past sales expertise, and even sent over ten trays of eggs to the county seat's farmers' market for sale. They sold out in just three days, and at a quite remarkable price. Now, whenever someone asks for eggs on WeChat Moments, Zhang Zhilong drives to the farmers' homes to pick them up. In Li Wentang's words: "Whether it's three trays or five trays, Zhilong will drive over to pick them up. He's our village's egg 'sales manager'!"
According to Li Wentang, the total number of chickens among all farming households in the village has doubled compared to last year, and each household's daily egg production is over 50. At an average of 1.3 yuan per egg, that's over 60 yuan in income per day, which is more than enough to cover daily living expenses.
Zhang Yunpeng, deputy mayor of Jiaokouhe Town, said with emotion: "Our Luochuan apples are a big industry, while breeding is a small chain. Zhang Zhilong helps farmers develop chicken farming, which doesn't interfere with their farm work and requires little investment with quick results."
In this poor village deep in the Luohe Canyon, with its scattered vegetation and uneven hills, the presence of this flock of chattering Red Ke chickens foraging everywhere seems to add a touch of vitality and hope.
As we were leaving, Zhang Zhilong received a phone call: someone wanted two roosters. Zhang Zhilong and Li Wentang's son walked into the chicken coop together, deftly grabbed two roosters and put them in a box, then handed 200 yuan to Li Wentang.