Farmers in Ci County, Hebei, get rich by raising deer as a specialty

Li Xiuhua, a 64-year-old farmer's wife in Shenzhuang Village, Jiangwucheng Town, Ci County, Handan City, is making a difference in her later years. Taking advantage of the region's abundant straw and tree leaves, in September she invested more than 30,000 yuan to adopt 5 sika deer from the "Yonghong Sika Deer Breeding Base" in a neighboring village, becoming the first elderly rural resident to raise sika deer and set out on the road to prosperity.

Li Xiuhua, a 64-year-old farmer's wife.

Liu Yonghong, general manager of the "Ci County Yonghong Sika Deer Breeding Base," explained that sika deer are easy to manage and rarely get sick, and the breeding base guarantees buy-back of all deer products, including fawns, relieving farmers of any worries. By conservative estimate, the 5 sika deer raised by Li Xiuhua can bring in 20,000 yuan in economic benefits each year. The company's deer stock is all introduced from improved-breed sika deer bases in Northeast China, and going forward it will gradually move toward a company-plus-farmers development model, leading nearby residents to join together on the road to prosperity through specialty farming.