Danzhou College Graduate Gives Up High Salary to Devote Himself to Agriculture, Leading Villagers to Prosper Together

"Seek truth from facts in developing agricultural modernization, adapt measures to local conditions to build ecological farms." Today (May 30), when the reporter visited the Danzhou Zuitianyuan Laying Hen Breeding Farmers' Professional Cooperative base, a pair of bright red couplets caught the eye.

This cooperative is located in the Tuya Village Group of Tuisai Village Committee, Dacheng Town, Danzhou City, and was established under the leadership of villager Fu Yilong.

Fu Yilong, chairman of the cooperative, said the cooperative's highlight is not only leading villagers to prosperity through industry, but mainly in introducing a batch of advanced equipment to change the stench-filled conditions of traditional chicken farms.

To do ecological industry, the key is to have ecological concepts. Now, guided by this concept, the cooperative's ecological eggs are selling well in markets both within and outside the province.

Chicken Coops Offer Shade and Coolness, Fresh Without Odor

At ordinary chicken farms, even before getting close, there is a nose-covering stench from far away.

However, at the Danzhou Zuitianyuan Laying Hen Breeding Farmers' Professional Cooperative base, no peculiar smell can be detected. One sees rows upon rows of shelves, where energetic hens either compete to peck at feed or crow loudly.

On May 26, the Organization Department of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Poverty Alleviation Office jointly held a training class for "entrepreneurial prosperity leaders" in impoverished rural areas across the province, and the trainees made a special trip to visit the cooperative base. The 130 trainees entered the base's chicken farm one after another, and amid their surprise, they took out their phones to take photos. Many trainees praised it endlessly: "This chicken farm is really great, surprisingly not a bit of stench can be smelled, and it's so cool!"

Fu Yilong told the reporter that the cooperative invested 2.25 million yuan and purchased equipment such as blowers and water curtain windows at 750,000 yuan per set, along with monitoring equipment such as probes for automatic control. Once the room temperature exceeds 28°C, the blower will blow air to regulate the temperature and accelerate the speed of air exchange between indoors and outdoors. In addition, after chicken manure is excreted, it is cleaned through a dedicated channel and promptly bagged and sold to planting bases in surrounding villages.

Giving Up High Salary in the City, Returning to the Countryside to Start a Business

As a native-born Fu Yilong, how did he become a modern farmer?

Fu Yilong introduced that he graduated from junior college in 1999, and during his years of working in Jiangsu, Shanghai and other provinces, he mostly worked in the marketing industry. This also allowed him to gain experience and broaden his horizons through years of cross-provincial marketing.

When he returned home for the Chinese New Year in 2005, Fu Yilong saw that many villagers were still living in hardship, so a thought came to him: I want to return home to start a business and lead everyone to prosperity together.

In early 2006, Fu Yilong decided to resign from his job at a company in Anhui. The company's person in charge, in order to retain him, offered a salary of 250,000 yuan per year. However, Fu Yilong, having made up his mind, still chose to return to his hometown.

"Actually, I used to think about how to jump out of the 'agricultural field,' but now I think about how to enter the 'agricultural field.'" Fu Yilong said humorously.

After a period of market research, Fu Yilong raised 3.5 million yuan from various sources and formally established the Danzhou Zuitianyuan Laying Hen Breeding Farmers' Professional Cooperative in May 2015. The first phase built a breeding base with a scale of 30,000 laying hens, and the breed is the "Jinfeng No. 1" laying hen, one of the top ten domestic brands, with an emphasis on the "ecological card."

Helping Poor Households, Earning Money at the Doorstep

Fu Yilong introduced that through implementing the "company + cooperative + farmers" model and adopting the methods of "profit dividends, labor employment, and win-win cooperation," the cooperative not only has the company providing technical support and market sales services, but also drives farmers to shake off poverty and become prosperous through the chicken farming industry.

It is understood that the cooperative's laying hens produce an average of 28,000 eggs per day, with an annual output value exceeding 5 million yuan. Fu Yilong stated that it is still in the initial stage, and with the continuous improvement of scale and branding, he believes the cooperative will grow bigger and stronger.

Now, the cooperative has 13 members, including 7 poor households.

Villager Lin Zhuangliang, who works at the cooperative, said with emotion that in the past he relied on farming and his income was very low, but now relying on the chicken farming industry, besides wages, there are year-end dividends, and life has something to look forward to.

There is also villager Fu Weizan, who earns money by working at his doorstep. He said frankly: "I used to work away from home. Although I had income, it was unstable. Now I have joined the cooperative and work nearby, and I can get more than 3,000 yuan in wages every month. After work, I can take care of my family, and life is pretty good."