College student Deng Rongzhi makes a big name for himself farming shrimp

    In 2003, Deng Rongzhi graduated from Guangxi University with a major in aquaculture. Two paths lay before him: stay in the city or return to his hometown. Fate was very kind to this farmer's son who had completed his studies in poverty. A city job with a monthly income of several thousand yuan made his classmates deeply envious. But Deng Rongzhi hesitated. The sea, the tidal flats, the expectations of his fellow villagers eager to escape poverty, the dream of turning his professional knowledge into productivity... In the end, he made a decision that most people could not understand: go home and farm shrimp!

Deng Rongzhi

The villagers could not help but wonder: he must have come back because he couldn't make it in the city, right? Deng Rongzhi answered all kinds of doubts with silent action. His hometown, Tudi Tian Village in Nali Town, Qinzhou, Guangxi, was well suited to aquaculture. At that time, a shrimp farming boom was rising in the village, and many villagers had converted shallow sea tidal flats and low-yield fields into shrimp ponds, creating a widespread and urgent need for technical guidance and services.

Deng Rongzhi thought carefully about the path to starting a business and becoming prosperous: the level of farming technology determines the survival and productivity of the shrimp. "I want to grab this by the nose!" Without hesitation, Deng Rongzhi raised funds on his own to set up a shop selling shrimp feed and medicine, and personally conducted farming experiments, quickly mastering an efficient set of shrimp farming techniques. In running his business, he kept his fellow villagers in his heart, honored his reputation, and provided shrimp farmers with credit services. At the same time, he tirelessly taught shrimp farming techniques and shrimp disease prevention methods to the farmers who came to buy feed and medicine, and went to farmers' shrimp ponds to provide follow-up technical services, and when the shrimp were harvested, provided purchasing information and so on. The difficulties of starting a business exceeded his imagination. His knowledge needed updating, and funds were tight; at the hardest times, he had neither feed nor living expenses and relied entirely on loans to get by.

In order to further improve his farming techniques, provide shrimp farmers with convincing sample experience, and demonstrate his determination to take root in the countryside, Deng Rongzhi rented more than 50 mu of shrimp ponds to farm shrimp himself, using them as a demonstration base for technical training. He provided hands-on coaching, and the farmers quickly mastered solid techniques, each becoming an expert in shrimp farming. Over the course of a year, of the 57 households guided by Deng Rongzhi, 49 succeeded in farming, with a success rate of over 80%. Among them, 36 farming households under his guidance enjoyed a bumper harvest, with an average annual per capita net income of more than 50,000 yuan, embarking on the road to prosperity through shrimp farming. The shrimp farmers praised him profusely: "Thanks to the 'shrimp farming professor' for helping us so much; he helped us make our fortunes."

In order to join forces to enter the market and resist risks, in early 2006, Deng Rongzhi established the Tudi Tian Village Shrimp Farming Association and served as its president. The association supports its members, providing a full range of follow-up services from the renovation of members' shrimp ponds, the selection of shrimp fry, water quality management and disease prevention to the purchase of adult shrimp. Deng Rongzhi also set up a "farmers' classroom" in his own feed shop, personally giving free lessons to shrimp farmers who came from afar. Today, shrimp farmers armed with science and technology have farmed shrimp weighing over 20 grams each with a per-mu yield exceeding 500 kg, and even set a record by farming whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) reaching 30 grams each with a per-mu yield exceeding 500 kg. The shrimp quality meets export standards, and the economic benefits are very clear.

Since 2007, the Tudi Tian Village Shrimp Farming Association has been rated as one of the "Top Ten Farmers' Classrooms" of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Deng Rongzhi himself has successively received titles including one of Qinzhou's first "Top Ten Outstanding Young Farmers," "Expert in Science and Technology Farming" awarded by the Guangxi Science and Technology Department, Qinzhou's "Outstanding League Cadre," and one of Qinzhou's fourth "Top Ten Outstanding Youths." In 2009, Deng Rongzhi was honored with the title of one of the 13th "China Outstanding Young Farmers."

On July 24, 2008, Comrade Lu Hao, First Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, visited Tudi Tian Village for an inspection and highly praised Deng Rongzhi's achievements. In accordance with Secretary Lu Hao's requirement that "League organizations can be established along the industrial chain," Deng Rongzhi established a League branch in the Shrimp Farming Association. The branch's 31 members came from different administrative areas, and the Shrimp Farming Association League branch also became the first League organization in Qinzhou to break through administrative and regional boundaries and be established within an economic cooperative organization. With the call to change the poverty situation of rural youth and the goal of leading young people to prosperity, the League branch attracted and united a large number of rural youth into the League organization, and the League flag became a brilliant color of the shrimp farming association.

Now, the membership of Deng Rongzhi's Shrimp Farming Association has increased to more than 300, the farming success rate has reached over 90%, and the total shrimp output has reached 3,700 tons.

In October 2008, Deng Rongzhi visited Germany with the Chinese Youth Delegation led by Comrade Lu Hao. During the visit to Germany, his story and the situation of the Tudi Tian Village Shrimp Farming Association aroused strong interest on the German side.

On December 22, 2008, Deng Rongzhi attended a national symposium of college student village official representatives held in Zhongnanhai, where he reported and exchanged views with Xi Jinping, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice President of the People's Republic of China, and other delegates on how college students can leverage their professional strengths in rural areas and how to take root in the countryside.