Ostrich Breeding and Hatching Base Helps Farmers in Bazhou Get Rich

Zhao Chengyi Built Bazhou's Largest Ostrich Breeding and Hatching Base, Helping 63 Surrounding Farming Households Increase Their Income and Get Rich

Zhao Chengyi Takes Two Ostrich Eggs Out of a Refrigerator to Show Everyone

One ostrich egg sells for 200 yuan, and a young ostrich four to five months old sells for two to three thousand yuan! A farmers' cooperative in Yuli County can earn an annual net profit of more than 600,000 yuan just from selling ostrich eggs and young ostriches.

On March 22, the reporter contacted Zhao Chengyi by phone, the founder of this cooperative named Yinxiang Special Breeding Cooperative. According to him, this cooperative was established in 2012. At present, it has 63 members and raises more than 560 ostriches.

Zhao Chengyi said that before raising ostriches, he had worked in the construction industry and accumulated a certain amount of capital. In 2012, when he and relatives and friends were looking for business opportunities together, they learned that the ostrich breeding industry was very "popular" in the interior, and **two small enterprises were already breeding ostriches, but because the number was scarce, the market was very good: "An ostrich egg actually sells for more than 200 yuan, and a kilogram of ostrich meat also sells for 120 yuan." He did the math: an adult ostrich weighs about 100 kg and lays 50 to 80 eggs a year. Ostriches can be marketed in one year. If breeding goes smoothly, the costs can be recovered after one year.

After several rounds of investigation, Zhao Chengyi finally decided to develop the ostrich breeding industry. He and relatives and friends invested more than one million yuan to build Bazhou's largest ostrich breeding and hatching base, with a total area of 6,767 sq m.

Afterward, Zhao Chengyi introduced 50 ostriches from an ostrich breeding enterprise in northern Xinjiang. After starting to breed them, he found that ostrich breeding was not as smooth as he had imagined: "Ostrich eggs are all right, one can sell for more than 200 yuan, but not many people buy ostrich meat, and the survival rate of young ostriches is not very high either." In the first two years, he kept relying on selling ostrich eggs to recover costs. It was not until 2014, when he figured out ostrich breeding experience and could successfully hatch ostriches in batches, that profits began to increase substantially.

"The main reason is that ostrich eggs sell relatively well. Most buyers are restaurant owners and people who want to try something new." He said that now ostrich eggs have gone from him initially going door to door to sell them to customers placing orders at his door. In the past two years, as more people have raised ostriches, the price of young ostriches has also gradually risen. "A five-month-old young ostrich has risen from more than 1,000 yuan to 2,000 to 3,000 yuan." He said that some people buy them for breeding and reproduction, while others buy them just to keep them for viewing at farm stays or tourism bases. At present, these young birds are mostly sold to Kashgar, Hotan, Aksu and Urumqi.

Zhao Chengyi said that at present, the cooperative has more than 560 ostriches. In 2016, relying only on ostrich eggs and young ostriches, the cooperative's net profit reached more than 600,000 yuan.