Starting with one pig, scientific farming and breeding brought him sweet rewards
Most young people in rural areas today believe there are few opportunities in the countryside, especially in mountainous rural areas, and always think about going elsewhere or working at local enterprises to earn money, feeling it is more respectable. But He Wenhui, a villager from Daying Village, Ningzhong Town, Xingning City, returned home from working elsewhere and took up farming activities such as raising pigs, raising Muscovy ducks, and cultivating other people's abandoned paddy fields. A family of six, old and young, has seen life get better and better, and recently they even built an additional two-story, 140 sq m house.
Returning home to do farming and breeding out of filial piety
He Wenhui is 45 this year, of medium build, with slightly ruddy but very sturdy-looking skin. Starting in 1992, he went to work as a security guard at the Beijing Street Police Station in Yuexiu District, Guangzhou. Because of his conscientious and responsible work, he was twice named an advanced individual by his unit. In 1999, since his parents were already over 60 and in poor health, He Wenhui resolutely quit his security job and returned home to care for his aging parents.
Shortly after returning home, he mainly did home appliance installation work. In 2001, he married Li Qingying, who sold clothes at Dongyue Palace in Xingcheng. After marriage, they saw that there were many abandoned paddy fields in the village and felt that doing farming and breeding in the countryside would not mean earning no money, and it would also allow them to care for the old and young. So, starting in 2007, they took up farming activities such as raising pigs, raising Muscovy ducks, raising chickens, and cultivating other people's abandoned paddy fields.
Hardworking and eager to learn, his business flourished day by day
Everyone knows that farming and breeding is firstly bitter and exhausting, and secondly greatly affected by weather and other natural conditions. He Wenhui and his wife endured hardship and worked hard, relying on their own diligent hands, starting from raising one sow and expanding year by year. In 2013, they spent more than 40,000 yuan to expand the pig pens. Now, they have over 50 fattening pigs of various sizes, 7 sows, more than 2,300 Muscovy ducks, over 100 chickens, and 8 mu of rice under cultivation. The feed for the fattening pigs and Muscovy ducks they raise never has any hormones added, and the water they drink is the clear water below Heshui Reservoir. Therefore, although their fattening pigs and Muscovy ducks have relatively longer raising periods, their meat is delicious. The fattening pigs are sold locally, and the Muscovy ducks are exclusively sold by merchants from Fujian, at slightly higher prices than local ones.
According to He Wenhui, raising so many livestock and also growing rice is quite hard, but to save costs, they have not hired any helpers and rely entirely on the couple working together with one heart, diligently supporting themselves. This writer asked whether farming and breeding had gone smoothly over the years. He said it had been fairly smooth, mainly because he had gradually mastered the techniques of farming and breeding. It turns out that although He Wenhui did not attend university, he is good at learning and studying. The books placed in his room include "One Hundred Cases of Pig Raising," "Pig Disease Prevention and Treatment," "Handbook of Common Disease Medications," "Duck Raising Techniques," and so on. When he encounters problems, he reads books or checks the computer. Now, when livestock get sick, he prescribes medicine and gives injections himself, and the surrounding villagers like to ask him for help when their livestock get sick.
Steady progress one step at a time plus scientific farming and breeding has let He Wenhui and his wife taste sweet rewards. They happily said that in the future they want to make a real success of farming and breeding, strive for an annual slaughter volume of 200 pigs, plan to expand rice cultivation to 15 to 20 mu, and do their best to bring abandoned paddy fields of Hebei villagers back into cultivation.
Honest and enthusiastic about public welfare
During this writer's visit, Li Baohuan, a Meizhou Municipal People's Congress representative whose hometown is not far from He Wenhui's home, praised He Wenhui highly, saying he is not only hardworking and eager to learn, but also honest and enthusiastic about public welfare.
There is a section of village road more than 80 m long in the village. The road surface was originally less than 2 m wide. Last June, He Wenhui and his nephew funded the widening of the road surface to more than 3 m, making it easier for villagers to pass. Last April, when the village carried out a safety project, two surveillance cameras were installed on the village road, and he has been responsible for paying the monthly electricity bill. At the water gate below Heshui Reservoir, the reservoir management office used to pay someone to watch over it. He Wenhui's duck farm is nearby, so he offered to watch over the water gate voluntarily. Whenever there is heavy rain or a rainstorm, and debris blocks the river channel upstream of the water gate, he takes the initiative to go into the river to help clear the blockage. In He Wenhui's view, these are all small things that are no trouble at all, convenient for others and himself, so why not do them?