Family pigeon raising requires little investment and yields good returns, making it a great small-cost farming project.

Jiang Wenfu, a Communist Party member from Jiangpolou Village, Jiangji Town, Lixin County, signed a contract in the autumn of 2011 with four catering businesses in Guangdong to supply squab exclusively. He raised funds himself to purchase 50 pairs of improved-breed "Gray King Pigeons." After careful rearing, the flock has now grown to more than 300 pairs. Since April, he has been able to sell 200 pairs of squab each month. At the contract price of 45 yuan per pair, his monthly income reaches 9,000 yuan. After deducting feed and staff wages, his net profit is around 6,000 yuan. It is a good path to quick prosperity with little investment, and the whole village envies him.

According to Jiang Wenfu, there are many kinds of domestic pigeons, but currently only the "Gray King Pigeon" breeds quickly and grows large. It can produce one pair of squabs each month, and at two months old each weighs more than 0.8 kg, ready for the dinner table.

In hotels they sell for 160 to 200 yuan each and are very popular with consumers. The advantages of raising domestic pigeons are: first, pigeons eat little and save grain. Each pigeon needs only two kg of raw grain per month before it can be sold. Second, the site is simple and saves building materials. Pigeons can be raised in ordinary brick-and-tile, thatched, or single-story houses, or in a partitioned room in a building; pigeons are small and often move about in indoor and outdoor spaces. Third, raising them is simple and saves labor. Pigeons like to eat raw grain, such as wheat, corn, peas, and cereals, and need no specially made feed. Fourth, pigeons have strong disease resistance; for many years no pigeon epidemic has been reported. Fifth, pigeons have medicinal value. Folk tradition holds that squabs can warm the stomach and strengthen the spleen and treat many common pediatric diseases. Recent medical reports say that combined with Chinese herbal medicine they can treat various cerebrovascular, cardiovascular, and gynecological diseases.

Now Jiang Wenfu has led 25 villager households to raise pigeons. Jiang Wende currently has more than 50 pairs that have begun breeding, and recently sold them outside at 60 yuan per pair, earning a considerable income. In the second half of the year, 70 households can be developed. He has established the "Jiangpolou Village Ecological Pigeon Raising Mutual Aid Group," which advances 5,000 yuan to disadvantaged families to buy squabs and buys back the products, leading everyone onto the shared path of prosperity through pigeon raising.