A young man from Lixin returns home to start a business, building his cooperative bigger and stronger

"Watermelons are now 1.6 yuan/jin, and 1.5 yuan/jin at the lowest. After the Dragon Boat Festival, chili pepper prices took a sharp dive, falling from 3.8 yuan/jin before the festival to 1.6 yuan/jin now. Time is money. This vegetables business, the price fluctuations are too big; sometimes, the market price can differ by 2 to 3 times within a single day," said 22-year-old Xia Chenyang, speaking with the savvy of a veteran and handling things with the polish of a seasoned businessman. "I have been running this cooperative for two years now, growing from the initial 50 mu to more than 200 mu today, and I could not have done it without the support of the rural commercial bank. Next, I plan to transfer another 200 mu of land, bring the surrounding small chili pepper growers into the cooperative, take the chili pepper industry deeper and stronger, and create my own green brand."

Xia Chenyang, born in 1991, is a university graduate who studied animal husbandry. Influenced by his family, he had already made up his mind to return home and start a business while still at university. After graduation, he was successfully admitted to work at Anhui Haoxiang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Group. Over the course of a year, he started from grassroots breeding work, then moved up to team leader, section chief, and captain; his promotions were remarkably smooth. A handsome income and a job matching his major, things most people would be satisfied with, did not wear away the passion for entrepreneurship in his heart. In 2011, the Lixin County government launched a support program for "university student entrepreneurship," and Xia Chenyang knew his opportunity had come. He resolutely quit this job that peers his age envied and threw himself into the wave of entrepreneurship.

The harshness of reality hit this young man, just 20 years old, like a blow to the head. No project, no funds, no market, no site, no talent; Xia Chenyang, who had not yet learned to swim, swallowed a big mouthful of water. At a loss, a classmate working at the county agriculture bureau gave him an idea: grow chili peppers. At the time, the chili pepper market was good, and more importantly, chili pepper cultivation had low costs, so a fledgling entrepreneur like him could support this money-making project through his own abilities. Through more than a year of effort, Xia Chenyang transferred 50 mu of land in Daguan Village, Liujiaji Township, Lixin County, built more than 40 chili pepper greenhouses, and created a small planting cooperative of his own. Both production and sales were brisk, covering the surrounding market. To realize his dream of leading his fellow villagers to get rich together, he planned to implement a "cooperative + small growers" management model.

"Back then, I had made some money, and my head started to heat up. I blindly launched new products, and as a result, the new varieties I introduced had not been verified beforehand, did not adapt to the local conditions, and all died," Xia Chenyang squatted down and touched the green string peppers in the greenhouse. "Not only did I sink all the money I had earned into it, I also borrowed money from others. The farm could barely keep going, and it was the rural commercial bank that pulled me back. Without the 200,000 loan they issued, the farm probably would not have its current scale." Once the funding problem was solved, Xia Chenyang began to proceed steadily and established a cooperative relationship with the county agriculture bureau. All varieties introduced by the farm were scientifically verified, and both yield and quality were guaranteed. It was precisely under the guidance of experts that Xia Chenyang's farm began to expand. He absorbed the surrounding small growers and founded the Lixin County Tengxiang Planting Cooperative, and its products expanded from a single crop of chili peppers to watermelons, flowers, grapes and more. "Now the farm has transferred 200 mu of land, with an average yield of 5,000 jin of fruits and vegetables per mu. In a good year, annual net profit can reach 1 million yuan. Last year the chili pepper market was not very good, and after deducting all expenses, I only made more than 200,000 yuan," Xia Chenyang said.

Rich, he did not forget his fellow villagers. Every year, during the more than four months of seedling raising and harvesting, Xia Chenyang's farm is crowded with farmers from surrounding villages. "Chili peppers are harvested twice a year; June, July, October and November are the peak picking seasons. At that time my farm hires 30 people, and each person is paid 40-50 yuan per day. They are all willing to come work for me. It is close to home, and the pay is good." Xia Chenyang pointed to the farmers working in the greenhouse and said proudly.

Nowadays, the chili peppers, watermelons and other products grown by Xia Chenyang's cooperative have already broken out of Anhui and entered markets in East China, South China and elsewhere, and he has established his own consignment sales outlets in first- and second-tier cities such as Hunan, Sichuan, Chongqing and Guangdong. "Now my marketing network mostly uses a consignment plus retail model, that is, products are directly distributed to large farmers' markets. After paying the consignment fee, commission fee and entry fee, the market handles sales on a unified consignment basis and transfers the money directly to the cooperative's account, which is convenient and saves trouble. In addition, in each city, I have developed 5-10 retailers, who come to pick up the goods themselves, cash on delivery, so this both avoids disputes and saves no small amount of expense. Although the price is a bit low, the profit is still quite large," he said, pointing to the temporary insulation shed. "This is the fruit I just picked today. It is already arranged; tonight a customer from Hunan will come to haul it away. This one customer alone takes 4,000 jin of goods. I need to hurry and sell more while it is peak season, so that next year will be much easier."

"Now with these 200 mu of greenhouses, and having borrowed enough funds from your rural commercial bank, my entrepreneurial dream has a chance to come true, and I feel very proud of myself!" Xia Chenyang said excitedly. "Actually, besides going to the city to work, we university students also want to use our strengths in rural areas and help ordinary people get rich." At present, Xia Chenyang is planning to register his own fruit and vegetable company and create his own brand, so as to drive the surrounding ordinary people to get rich together.

It is reported that the Lixin Rural Commercial Bank, based on actual conditions, innovatively developed loan products such as youth entrepreneurship loans and women's entrepreneurship loans to meet the loan needs of university students starting businesses, and cooperated with the local women's federation, science and technology commission and finance bureau to issue management measures and preferential policies suited to local realities, implementing government interest subsidies, interest rate reductions, preferential interest rates and other preferential measures for farmers, practically solving the cost of university student entrepreneurship, and received an enthusiastic welcome.