College graduate returns home to raise pheasants, builds a brand, and achieves integrated development of farming, breeding and tourism

Original title: A post-80s college graduate from Lianjiang returns home to raise pheasants

Determined to make a name for his pheasant brand and build an ecological industrial park

Staff at the breeding base carefully tending pheasants introduced from Guangxi. Photo by reporter Liu Jicheng

The chicken coops at the foot of Gaoshan in Changshan Town, Lianjiang, house many pheasants introduced from Guangxi. Photo by reporter Liu Jicheng

At the foot of Gaoshan in Changshan Town, Lianjiang, a row of netted chicken coops nestles among the mountain forest, where pheasants flutter about and the sounds of crowing and pecking can be heard from time to time, making the place especially lively. This is the Gaoshan Pheasant Ecological Breeding Base, and the owner of the more than a thousand pheasants on hand is Lin Rongbiao, a post-80s college graduate who returned home, and his partner Lin Jisheng.

After graduating from Guangxi Aquatic and Animal Husbandry School, Lin Rongbiao worked away from home for many years, did not make much money, and could not take care of his family, so after much consideration, he chose to return to his hometown to start a business.

In March 2015, after discussing it with his partner, they unanimously decided to raise pheasants. On one hand, pheasant farming has low costs and is easy to manage; on the other hand, they saw that demand for pheasants had surged in recent years and prices had soared all the way. They acted at once, building chicken sheds themselves, then immediately introduced 500 pheasant chicks from Guangxi. The two worked from dawn to dusk tending the pheasants, and four months later, the first batch was successfully ready for market, yielding a net profit of more than 20,000 yuan. Having gotten a taste of success, they expanded further and bought another 1,000 pheasant chicks to scale up.

However, the road to entrepreneurship was not all smooth sailing. In October 2015, when the second batch of pheasants was about to be sold, the strong typhoon "Mujigae" hit their coops, overturning all the chicken sheds at the farm; some pheasants were crushed to death, and some flew away, causing heavy losses. Facing this severe blow, they did not bow to hardship. With the help of family and friends, they promptly carried out disaster relief and resumed production, bringing in another 1,500 pheasant chicks to continue raising. During this year's Spring Festival, because they got a good price, they immediately made up for the losses. "There is no need to worry about sales; customers all come to us to buy pheasants. The only worry is that we won't have enough pheasants in the future. Profits are also good, with male pheasants at 100 yuan each and female pheasants at 60 yuan each. Because the pheasants' food is all corn, water hyacinth and so on, the cost is not high, and the net profit per bird is more than half," Lin Rongbiao said with a smile.

Enterprising people are unwilling to stop their diligent steps. Lin Rongbiao is determined to build his own pheasant brand and plans to establish an ecological industrial park integrating planting, breeding, tourism and leisure. "When the time comes, I hope to help more villagers get rich by raising chickens, and friends from all over are also welcome to come sightseeing and have fun here." Lin Rongbiao is full of longing for the future. (Author: Cao Longbin; correspondents Li Wenjing, Xiao Ting, Lin Jiaxuan)