This is how the "Duck Farming King's" dream of prosperity came true
On March 2, walking in the warm early spring sunshine, the reporter came to Wenchuan Yongjun Duck Industry Co., Ltd. in Shuimo Town, Wenchuan County. Entering the company's farm, neatly arranged pens, standard disinfection channels and a green pastoral-style farming environment came into view, and flocks of ducks were pecking at feed in the pens.
In Shuimo Town, Liao Zhongming, head of Yongjun Duck Industry and known as the "Duck Farming King," is a household name. Originally from Dayi, he founded Wenchuan Yongjun Duck Industry Co., Ltd. through hard work and unremitting persistence. Last year, the company raised more than 800,000 meat ducks, with an output value of more than 15 million yuan and a profit of more than 800,000 yuan.
When the reporter met Liao Zhongming, he was busy checking on the ducks' feeding and drinking conditions. "These precious little things must not be handled carelessly; they have to be taken good care of." While showing the reporter around the farm, Liao Zhongming began to recount the many details of his meat duck farming.
Through wind and rain, he held up a stretch of sky with his faith
"Ten years ago, I was slaughtering sheep in Chengdu. Through gradual hard work, I had my own slaughterhouse. At that time, most of the sheep in all of Chengdu were supplied by my slaughterhouse." Speaking of his past experiences, Liao Zhongming was full of pride.
In 2008, the Wenchuan earthquake made Liao Zhongming, then in Chengdu, feel extremely sad, and the disaster situation kept weighing on his heart. Not long after the earthquake, Liao Zhongming drove to Wenchuan to visit the people in the disaster area and express his compassion. "I always come four or five times a year. Without realizing it, I feel like I'm half a Wenchuan local." As seasons changed, after many visits he found that due to natural factors and infrastructure conditions, local people's lives were poor and there were few ways to prosperity.
"How can the people in the disaster area gain a skill and an occupation and live a happy life?" After returning to Chengdu, Liao Zhongming could not sleep all night. After a period of market research, he learned that raising meat ducks was a path to prosperity with little investment and quick returns. "Combined with the climate and environmental advantages of the Wenchuan area, plus duck farming as a traditional family breeding industry, it is easy for villagers to learn the techniques. At the same time, relying on the market resources and sales channels I have accumulated over the years, the meat ducks can definitely be smoothly accepted by the market," Liao Zhongming said.
Once his thinking was clear, Liao Zhongming acted at once. In 2009, Yongjun Duck Industry registered as an investment-attraction enterprise in Wenchuan County, with a total investment of more than 20 million yuan, and settled in Shuimo Town, Wenchuan County.
"In 2010, as the first year of full production, the company got onto the right track and achieved profitability. The ordinary people who joined the company's farming also tasted the benefits, and it was rated as a county-level leading enterprise in Wenchuan that year." Speaking of past achievements, Liao Zhongming was all smiles.
Just as the company was getting better day by day, fate played a "joke" on Liao Zhongming. In 2011, a debris flow suddenly struck and destroyed the farm built against the mountain. The sudden natural disaster plunged the company into difficulty, and the ordinary people's farming also suffered considerable losses.
"At that time I really did not know what to do. Facing a huge loss of 17 million yuan, I felt like the sky was falling." Recalling the most difficult time, Liao Zhongming said that what had happened had already happened, and retreating was never the way to solve the problem; he had to grit his teeth and get through it no matter how hard it was.
"Where there is a will, there is a way; heaven does not let down the dedicated." Encouraged by the Wenchuan County Party Committee and county government, Liao Zhongming regrouped. After two years, he finally resumed production in 2013. In 2015, the enterprise achieved a great harvest. Last year, it sold 800,000 meat ducks, with an output value of more than 15 million yuan and a profit of more than 800,000 yuan.
Turning waste into treasure, he wants to lead more farmers to prosperity
With the expansion of farming scale, while bringing huge economic benefits, practical problems such as the treatment of wastewater from cleaning the farming sheds and several tons of duck manure piled up like mountains were placed before Liao Zhongming.
"The wastewater generated during farming contains a certain amount of pollutants. If discharged directly without treatment, it will cause a certain degree of pollution to the surrounding water environment." Facing such a problem, Liao Zhongming already had a clever solution. He immediately brought in a wastewater treatment company to formulate a treatment plan for the farm. Starting from the goal of reducing the construction cost and operating cost of wastewater treatment, advanced wastewater treatment technology and equipment were adopted, which both solved the problem of wastewater treatment and achieved the environmental protection purpose of circulating water use.
Arriving at Liao Zhongming's organic fertilizer chemical workshop, the reporter saw bags of microbial organic bacterial fertilizer processed from duck manure being packaged and loaded, ready to be transported out of the workshop.
"This kind of organic bacterial fertilizer has the advantages of being green and pollution-free. It is a 'treasure' for planting fruit trees on urban farms. The fruits and vegetables grown with it taste especially good and keep for a long time, and are particularly welcomed by consumers." said Chen Zhongwen, who had come all the way from Chongzhou to collect fertilizer. Although the journey from Chongzhou to Shuimo is long, under the current market demand for ecological and green agriculture, this microbial organic bacterial fertilizer is a hot commodity.
According to Liao Zhongming, last year the company sold a total of 600 tons of microbial organic bacterial fertilizer to farms and orchards around Chengdu, including Chongzhou and Pujiang, achieving a profit of 1.02 million yuan and successfully treating 10,500 tons of a mixture of duck manure and wastewater, truly realizing the ecological circular agriculture concept of "zero pollution discharge, turning waste into treasure."
Now, Liao Zhongming's farming business has got onto the right track, and he has new ideas again. "Earthworms are good feed for raising ducks, and duck manure can be used to feed earthworms." Liao Zhongming told the reporter that this year he plans to use duck manure to breed earthworms, then process the earthworms into feed to provide to farmers raising meat ducks, while the company will sign purchase contracts with farmers to minimize their farming risks.
"The ordinary people should get more real benefits." Liao Zhongming said that next the company will start from farmers' farming costs and farming environment and adjust the farmers' farming model from "large-scale factory farming" to "household free-range farming," to save farmers' farming costs to the greatest extent.
"As long as all our employees make unremitting efforts, we will create brilliance again, build a career, and lead more people out of poverty to prosperity." Liao Zhongming said full of confidence.