Raising Goats Lifted Chen Jiangqi's Family Out of Poverty, and the Flock Became the Family's Treasure
"Our goats started giving birth to kids before the Chinese New Year, and now more than 50 have been born. In a few months, they will all be ready for market," said Chen Jiangqi, a poor household member in Xinshe Village, Hongjing Township, Licheng County, happily expressing his inner joy.
In July 2016, with the help of the Hongjing Township government and the village poverty alleviation team, Chen Jiangqi successfully obtained 50,000 yuan in project poverty alleviation funds from the Licheng County Postal Savings Bank, bought 100 goats, and began his entrepreneurial journey of raising goats.
In the photo: Chen Jiangqi in the goat pen, planning his next step on the road to prosperity
Chen Jiangqi, 52 years old, is in a family of three. His daughter works away from home year-round, and he and his wife farm at home while caring for their 3-year-old grandson. Because they had no source of income, his family became one of the 14 poor households in the village. He was originally from a remote, isolated small mountain village in Hongjing Township full of gullies and ravines. In 2016, with the support of poverty alleviation policies, the entire village was relocated and merged with Nanshe Village to form what is now Xinshe Village. By the end of the year, his whole family not only successfully shed the "poverty cap" and moved into a two-story small Western-style house, but was also named a "County-Level Demonstration Household for Entrepreneurship and Prosperity," and the county party secretary personally awarded them a prize of 20,000 yuan.
On the morning of February 28, when the reporter met him, he was tending the goat pen with his wife and their little grandson. "Raising goats is rather hard and tedious work. You can never take a break all day; there is always endless work to do," Chen Jiangqi said. Since he started raising goats, every morning after getting up, he first lets the flock out of the cave dwelling into the outdoor open pen to feed on forage. After breakfast, he has to go up the mountain to cut pine branches to prepare food for the kids, because the green grass has not come up yet and the kids can only eat this to fill their bellies. After returning, he still has to help his wife gather corn stalk forage for the adult goats and clean the goat pen. There is not a moment to rest all morning.
Raising goats is a rather dirty and messy livelihood, so Chen Jiangqi kept the flock in the old village, and for convenience he and his wife moved back to that shabby little courtyard, beginning their own happy life of entrepreneurial farming.
A little after 12 noon, after finishing up the goat pen, the couple and their little grandson went home joyfully to prepare lunch. While his wife was cooking, he did not sit down and wait; he took a liter of salt and sprinkled it along the stones by the roadside where the flock passed. "If the goats eat a little salt, they like to eat grass more, they also like to drink water more, and they are less likely to get sick," Chen Jiangqi said. Goats are like people: after a while, you have to change their taste, and then they will not eat dirt.
"Baa, baa, baa," the flock, wanting to go foraging on the hillside, kept calling their owner. After lunch, Chen Jiangqi began the loneliest and most free-spirited work of his day: herding the goats. Skillfully holding his whip, he drove more than 100 goats up the mountain, humming songs all the while: "People say Shanxi has beautiful scenery, with fertile land and lovely waters..."
"Although raising goats is tiring, it is freer than working for others, where you are always bound by the clock, and the income is fairly decent. My flock grows bigger day by day, and my income increases year by year. I estimate I can earn about 20,000 yuan this year, and next year it will reach more than 30,000. I owe all of this to the government's good policies and the help of the county government, the township government, and the village poverty alleviation team," Chen Jiangqi said happily.
At Master Chen's warm invitation, the reporter and his party visited his new home in Xinshe Village. Upstairs and downstairs, the 130-sq-m small Western-style house was spacious and bright. The home had a complete set of living appliances, including a TV, refrigerator, and washing machine. Although the decoration was simple, it outlined a warm picture, reflecting the happy and fulfilling life of the 14 households and 39 people of Xinshe Village after escaping poverty and achieving prosperity.