Driving farmers to prosper together is our dream
Inside the henhouse, workers are collecting eggs.
A few days ago, the All-China Women's Federation, together with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture, named Fengkai County Guangyuan Poultry Breeding Co., Ltd. a "National Women's Modern Agricultural Science and Technology Demonstration Base." This is Zhaoqing City's first "National Women's Modern Agricultural Science and Technology Demonstration Base."
On November 13, the reporter walked into Fengkai County Guangyuan Poultry Breeding Co., Ltd. The company is located at the foot of a hill and is a private enterprise integrating Xinghua chicken breed conservation, chick rearing, chilled and processed chicken meat, cooked chicken products, and poultry feed processing, among other business services. The reporter saw that in a modern henhouse, workers were pushing carts and busy collecting eggs; in the hatchery, modern technology was being used to hatch chicks, with more than ten thousand chicks hatched at a time.
"Getting rich alone doesn't count as getting rich; leading the broad masses of farmers onto the road to prosperity together is our dream." said Chen Yanying, chairwoman of Guangyuan Poultry Breeding Co., Ltd. As the company continued to grow, she and her husband Deng Yuanxin, who serves as the company's technical consultant, used the "company + farmers" model to lead 850 impoverished households in raising Xinghua chickens, 65% of them women.
Shi Guixuan, a 50-year-old villager from Fushi Village, Changgang Town, Fengkai, formerly made a living by farming and growing sugar mandarins, with an annual income of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. After food, clothing and daily expenses for a family of four, little was left over each year, and life was tight. In 2007, he began taking chicks home from Chen Yanying's company to raise, taking more than 4,000 at once, and after raising them for 5 months the company bought them back for sale. "One batch of chickens brings in 30,000 to 40,000 yuan; raising two batches a year gives an annual net profit of 70,000 to 80,000 yuan." Shi Guixuan said to the reporter with a smile on his face, "Raising chickens is much better than farming and growing sugar mandarins! The income is higher, and it's not as hard." Shi Guixuan has already sold one batch of chickens this year, earning nearly 50,000 yuan, and now has more than 7,000 chickens at home.
Shi Zilian, a 48-year-old woman from the same village as Shi Guixuan, saw that Shi Guixuan was living a better life by raising chickens, so in 2009 she also began taking chicks home from Chen Yanying's company to raise. "Raising chickens at home means you don't have to go out to work, you don't have to keep hoping for that little bit of wages from a boss, you're free, you can take care of things at home, and you don't have to go out in the sun every day." Shi Zilian said. Several years have passed, and her family's life has improved day by day; she has built a small Western-style house, and there is no longer any worry about the cost of her two children's schooling. On the 12th of this month, she had just sold more than 6,000 chickens, with a profit of more than 40,000 yuan. On the 20th, the company delivered more than 6,000 more chicks to her home.
According to the "company + farmers" rules, chicks, feed and technology are all provided free of charge by the company to the chicken-raising farmers. The company delivers the chicks to the farmers' homes, and when the chickens are grown, it buys them back for sale, so farmers do not need to worry about sales. After deducting the costs of feed, chicks and so on, what remains is the farmers' net profit. For all chicken-raising farmers like Shi Guixuan, as long as they put in labor and time, their interests are basically guaranteed. When avian influenza hits and the price of broiler chickens falls, even if the company loses money, Chen Yanying will act according to the original contract to ensure the farmers' interests. "Benefiting farmers is our wish. Industrial poverty alleviation is a win-win matter; helping others is also helping oneself." Chen Yanying said. At present, among the farmers under the company, there are more than 80 large-scale households alone and nearly 2,000 small-scale households. Large-scale households basically raise 5,000 to 20,000 chickens.
Since Guangyuan Poultry Breeding Co., Ltd. was named a "National Women's Modern Agricultural Science and Technology Demonstration Base," the company has planned to help 500 rural women start businesses from now through all of 2016, mainly by giving them chicks free of charge to raise. "There are also plans to join hands with the county women's federation to select women elites from each town and set up science and technology task forces to drive women to raise chickens." Deng Yuanxin said.
In fact, as early as 2009, Guangyuan Poultry Breeding Co., Ltd. began giving chicks to some poor families to raise, and so far it has given away 130,000 chicks in total.
Through raising Xinghua chickens, Chen Yanying realized her dream of starting a business and becoming rich. Now, she is leading a large group of impoverished farmers, especially women in difficulty, on the road to prosperity together.