Red-yolk duck eggs sell like hotcakes: Zhang Lixin sells 10,000 a day
As the Dragon Boat Festival approaches, Zhang Lixin, a farmer in Liushutun Mongol and Manchu Township, Kangping County, is extremely busy. Every few moments the phone rings, with many customers from inside and outside the province urging her to sell them her red-yolk duck eggs. On average she sells 6,000 to 7,000 a day, and on June 2 alone she sold over 10,000. On the market, an ordinary salted duck egg costs 1 yuan each, yet her duck eggs sell for 3 yuan each and still cannot meet demand.
On June 3, the reporter came to Huagu Village in Liushutun Township and saw the Huagu Reservoir, which is only a little over 4 m deep, rolling with waves. A few farmers live scattered around the reservoir. There is no factory at all, so it is absolutely pristine.
At the Huagu Red-Yolk Duck Egg Professional Cooperative, the reporter saw the cooperative's chairman, Zhang Lixin, salting duck eggs in the yard. She skillfully rubbed salt and yellow mud onto the duck eggs, then slipped them into plastic bags and packed them into cardboard boxes. Inside the duck shed, the ducks were eating Potamogeton crispus, an aquatic plant rich in carotene. This is the "secret" behind the red yolks of the duck eggs.
Zhang Lixin has been raising ducks for 14 years. The red-yolk duck eggs her family produces are sold to every prefecture-level city in the province. "At first I just thought it was convenient to raise ducks near the water. I never expected that many of the duck eggs would have red yolks, and that instantly opened up the market," Zhang Lixin said. Unexpectedly, fortune is fickle: the 2006 "Sudan Red incident" also affected sales of her red-yolk duck eggs. However, after a professional institution was commissioned to test and analyze her red-yolk duck eggs, the results found no "Sudan Red", but did detect surprising amounts of carotene and various other organic substances. For this reason, Zhang Lixin decided to apply for trademark protection. The following year, the trademark "Potamogeton crispus Red-Yolk Duck Eggs" was approved by the state. After this incident, Potamogeton crispus red-yolk duck eggs became famous far and wide.
On ordinary days, her ducks all move about along the shore, eating small fish, small shrimp, and aquatic plants in the shallows.
The person in charge of Liushutun Township told the reporter that 13 member households have joined the Huagu Red-Yolk Duck Egg Cooperative, and they are following Zhang Lixin in raising ducks and getting rich. Liushutun Township will increase support for the duck-raising industry, help farmers expand the market and promote sales, further expand the scale of the Kangping red-yolk duck egg industry, and drive more farmers to prosperity.