Making a fortune as a migrant worker without forgetting his roots, returning home to start a business and help lift people out of poverty
Walking into Zhongchang Village, Bazhai Town, Qixingguan District, and heading up a small hillside, several spacious and tidy cement houses soon come into view.
At first glance, one might think they are processing plants, but on getting closer, the faint grunting of pigs can be heard. "This is not a processing plant, it is a pig farm," said Song Shiyin, the person in charge of the farm.
From once leaving his hometown to learn a trade and make a living, to returning to Zhongchang Village to start a farm, Song Shiyin is now a "pig-raising celebrity" in Bazhai Town.
In 1994, at just 23 years old, Song Shiyin left home to become a migrant worker. After a month of hard work, he could earn only a few hundred yuan.
That was Song Shiyin's first time traveling far from home. At the time, the only thought in his mind was to work for a few years, save 20,000 yuan, go back to his hometown, build a house and get married. With this idea in mind, Song Shiyin drifted away from home for more than 20 years.
Because Song Shiyin was hardworking, smart and dependable, after saving some money he began doing a food ingredients business in Fujian, earning about 200,000 yuan a year. After more than ten years, Song Shiyin had become a "wealthy man."
In 2015, Song Shiyin heard that his hometown was developing a cluster-based economy, so he gave up his business in Fujian and returned to Bijie.
After returning home, Song Shiyin inspected townships such as Yanzikou Town, Qingshuipu Town and Liangyan Town, preparing to find a site to raise ducks and develop a breeding business, but he never found a satisfactory place. "I finally found a suitable site in Linkou Town, but in the end we could not reach an agreement." Just like that, Song Shiyin's "duck-raising plan" had to be abandoned.
"At the time, a friend told me, since it is hard to find a place to raise ducks, why not try finding land to raise pigs?" The friend's words suddenly enlightened the bewildered Song Shiyin: raising pigs was also a good choice.
Having been awakened by this advice, Song Shiyin went to Zhongchang Village in Bazhai Town to inspect sites, and took a liking to this piece of land where the factory now stands at first sight.
Transferring land, negotiating with farmers, building the factory... after several twists and turns, the farm was built in July last year, and Song Shiyin purchased 260 pigs from Tianzhao Company in Guiyang for breeding.
"Among the 260 pigs, there are 170 commercial pigs and 90 sows. Each sow is a high-yield pig, giving birth to five litters in two years, with twelve or thirteen piglets per litter. The annual economic benefit is expected to be several hundred thousand yuan." New to pig farming, Song Shiyin was full of confidence.
When he first started spending money to build new houses for the pigs, many villagers did not understand and thought Song Shiyin was making unnecessary trouble. Why spend a lot of money building "cement houses" for pigs? This is not how pigs are raised in rural areas. But Song Shiyin, who had received training at Tianzhao Company, knew well that traditional pig-raising methods have many shortcomings: the growing environment for pigs is poor, the accumulated pig manure causes serious pollution, the stench affects nearby neighbors, and in summer it easily attracts flies and mosquitoes that cause disease.
Guided by the concept of saving resources, protecting the environment and scientific breeding, Song Shiyin built 4 cement houses covering more than 100 sq m, equipped with farrowing crates, automatic drinking water and other breeding equipment, and built water channels and biogas pits outside the houses. Sows are raised in limit stalls, while commercial pigs are raised loose in large pens. The pig houses are cleaned regularly, and in summer fans are used to lower the temperature and relieve the heat, which both ensures the temperature and effectively sterilizes and disinfects, benefiting the growth of the pigs.
"During the pig-raising process, special attention must be paid to hygiene, epidemic prevention and temperature." In Song Shiyin's view, the high mortality rate of traditional piglets is due to excessively low temperatures. Ordinary piglets need to be kept at around 40°C to ensure their growth rate.
"The sows purchased this month are expected to give birth to more than 300 piglets." Song Shiyin said with a smile that he had made full preparations to welcome the new piglets.
As the farm gradually develops, Song Shiyin plans to increase investment to build about 4,000 sq m of pig pens, while also building offices and a processing plant, improving supporting facilities, installing cameras in each pig house, and carrying out enclosed and disinfected management.
The continuous expansion of the farm's scale has brought more job opportunities to the surrounding poor households.
Song Shiyin posted recruitment notices in Bazhai Town. With Zhongchang Village as the center and extending to poor households across the whole district, anyone who comes to work at Song Shiyin's farm can be hired with priority.
"For poor households who come to work, we will provide technical training," Song Shiyin said. During the early training period, the wages of poor households can reach more than 3,000 yuan, and they will also be sent to Tianzhao Company for later technical training.
Although the pig market is currently fluctuating greatly, Song Shiyin remains full of confidence, busy expanding pig pens and enlarging the breeding scale, and enjoying it immensely.
On this familiar land, Song Shiyin is realizing step by step his dream of returning home to start a business and his wish to help poor households escape poverty...