Crayfish farming sets breeding expert Wang Gongping on the road to prosperity

In Leihe Village, Xingou Town, there is just such a poor household: he raised loaches and lost money, planted cotton and fell into debt, which left him utterly destitute and living in hardship. Now, with the advancement of poverty alleviation work, the village's poverty alleviation officials have brought him a project and found him funding, and he wants to make a big push again.

This nearly 50-mu newly dug crayfish pond in Leihe Village, Xingou Town, belongs to the poor household Wang Gongping. The newly stocked crayfish in the pond have long since burrowed into the soil, but early in the morning, Wang Gongping still could not rest easy and came by to take a look as usual. For Wang Gongping, going into crayfish farming is already his third attempt at starting a business. Wang Gongping's family was originally a happy household of six, but unexpectedly, in just a few short years, he became a poor household, and the main reason for his poverty has to be traced back to five years ago.

To give his family a better life, Wang Gongping was not content to grow traditional crops. Relying on savings accumulated over many years, he began his first business venture, loach farming, but because he did not have enough funds or technical input, he was never able to master the farming techniques. In less than a year, all the loaches in the dozens of mu of fields died, causing him to lose nearly 100,000 yuan. Unwilling to give up, he mustered his courage again, took the remaining savings, and began his second business venture, planting cotton, but that year the price of cotton fell from 7 yuan to 1 yuan, which left him with nothing again, a loss of more than 40,000 yuan.

After two failed business ventures, Wang Gongping fell ill. To pay for medical treatment, almost all the family's remaining savings were spent, and the whole family became completely destitute. His wife, unable to bear it any longer, eventually filed for divorce, leaving behind a pair of children with intellectual disabilities and his elderly parents. A series of unfortunate changes made Wang Gongping lose his confidence and courage in life.

The village's poverty alleviation officials saw Wang Gongping's collapse and felt anxious about it. To reignite Wang Gongping's hope for life, they had to rekindle his enthusiasm for starting a business and find him a good industry that could make money. So what kind of industry actually makes money? This became the question the poverty alleviation officials cared about most.

After carefully investigating the market situation for crayfish farming, the poverty alleviation officials found that crayfish farming really does make money. Having found a good project that could make money, the poverty alleviation officials quickly told Wang Gongping the news, but unexpectedly, Wang Gongping was not interested.

It turned out that his previous business failures had left Wang Gongping with psychological scars. Because he considered himself to have no crayfish farming skills at all, he was unwilling to try again. Learning of Wang Gongping's concerns, the poverty alleviation officials quickly held multiple rounds of communication and consultation with Fuwa Enterprise, which was also engaged in crayfish farming, and ultimately obtained technical support from the large enterprise.

The technical problem was solved, but Wang Gongping was still unwilling to move forward. His family had no money, which to him was like having no rice to put in the pot; without startup capital, even the most profitable industry would be useless. Realizing this, the poverty alleviation officials finally understood Wang Gongping's real difficulty. Only by raising money for him could he regain the confidence to start over.

Government subsidized-interest loans, with the borrower deciding how much to borrow, finally reignited Wang Gongping's fighting spirit. This time, he completely set aside his worries, took out nearly 50 mu of fields to develop rice-crayfish co-cropping, and according to his own circumstances applied for a 100,000-yuan loan.

Earning 60,000 to 80,000 yuan a year, once this account was calculated, Wang Gongping was filled with drive, and his plans went far beyond just these. Now, Wang Gongping's nearly 50-mu farming pond has already been built for him with village funding, and the first batch of shrimp fry has also been purchased for him with village funding and has already been stocked. He just has to wait until next spring, when the crayfish come out of their burrows, and after stocking another batch of shrimp fry, he can start making money. And Wang Gongping is not the only one who has found a way out of poverty. At present, among the village's 37 poor households, 34 have already joined the ranks of crayfish farming by applying for government subsidized-interest loans.