Why is duck farmer Shang Junliang called the Duck Commander?
In Xingfu Village, Luliang Town, Jinhu County, whenever the "Duck Commander" - the college-graduate "village official" Shang Junliang - is mentioned, the villagers all give a thumbs-up, praising him for being young and for having ideas, courage and drive.
In July 2008, 24-year-old Shang Junliang, a young man from Yixing, was selected and hired as a college-graduate "village official", serving as assistant to the director of the village committee of Xingfu Village, Luliang Town, Jinhu County. At first, Shang Junliang helped the village handle some daily affairs, doing his own job with all his heart and due diligence. As time went on, the ordinary and trivial work swept away all the freshness he had felt when he first came to work in the countryside.
"If I just keep 'drifting' along day after day like this, the 3 years will pass very quickly. So why did I choose to come to the countryside in the first place? What should I do here?..." During that period, Shang Junliang kept asking himself these questions. In the days that followed, he sought answers by visiting every household. In his investigations, Shang Junliang discovered that a considerable number of villagers had nothing to do during the slack farming season - either playing mahjong or gathering in small groups to chat and joke around - and that Xingfu Village was a poor village with a relatively weak collective economy. Through his investigations, Shang Junliang came to realize that only by taking the lead in starting a business, showing the farmers by example, and leading the farmers to work, could he stir the masses' desire to get rich, lead them onto the road to prosperity, and at the same time realize the value of his own life through his work in the village.
Xingfu Village is a major agricultural village, and poultry farming has always been its traditional strength. Why not do something with poultry farming? Once he had this idea, Shang Junliang acted immediately, traveling again and again to Zhejiang, Shandong and other places to carry out research. Through multiple inspections, he learned that market demand for duck eggs was relatively large, and that laying-duck farming required little investment and carried little risk, with a single laying duck earning about 30 yuan per farming cycle. The broad market prospects and generous profit returns strengthened his confidence and determination to farm laying ducks.
No sooner said than done - Shang Junliang began actively making preparations. When the leaders of Luliang Town learned of this, they took the initiative to talk with him and offer him advice. At that time, Zhang Baoguo, a large poultry farmer in Xingfu Village, was deeply distressed over the lack of funds to expand his operation. With the help of leaders at all levels, Shang Junliang and Zhang Baoguo hit it off immediately and decided to cooperate on a laying-duck farming project.
According to the agreement, the total initial investment in the laying-duck farm was 600,000 yuan, with Shang Junliang contributing 240,000 yuan personally and Zhang Baoguo contributing 360,000 yuan, in a shareholding arrangement. Raising the 240,000 yuan was not smooth sailing for Shang Junliang; in particular, his parents' lack of understanding and even complaints made things even harder for Shang Junliang, who longed to accomplish something. To this end, Shang Junliang persuaded his parents with emotion and reason, and they gave him substantial financial support. The enthusiastic help of leaders, relatives, friends and many others finally gave Shang Junliang the initial financial guarantee for his business. And so, with the active help of town and village leaders and the strong support of his family, Shang Junliang's laying-duck farm broke ground. He insisted on eating and sleeping at the construction site, working with his own hands alongside the workers. In less than two months, the laying-duck farm - covering 20 mu and built with 3,000 sq m of standardized duck sheds - was successfully completed. In early April, 12,000 ducklings had already been brought in for rearing, with an estimated annual egg production of around 300,000 jin.
Shang Junliang told reporters that the new socialist countryside in his mind must not only have strong villages and prosperous people, but also give everyone an ecological environment with blue skies and clear waters. Next, he will build a biogas digester, using duck manure to produce biogas and turn waste into treasure, both solving environmental problems and serving nearby farming households. When the time is ripe, he also wants to establish a professional cooperative, organizing local people to participate together, and gradually develop it into a laying-duck demonstration base with a farming scale of 100,000 ducks, while also carrying out deep processing of poultry eggs and meat ducks, building an industrial base integrating production, processing and sales.
Nearly a year passed quickly, and Shang Junliang grew, kept busy and was happy in Xingfu Village. He feels deeply proud to have had the good fortune to become a college-graduate "village official", and he has also come to understand the profound meaning of the eight words "the vast countryside offers great opportunities". "To display my talents for the building of the new countryside" was his original dream, and now he is moving forward step by step to realize that dream.