Growing rice, raising fish, then raising ducks: the road to prosperity blooms with flowers
[Golden Ideas for Getting Rich] Without a bone-chilling cold, how can plum blossoms smell so fragrant? If you do not put in hardship and effort, how can you find the path to success? Although Jiang Zongxiang and his wife's entrepreneurial journey was full of ups and downs and twists and turns, with persistent determination they forged a road to prosperity by raising ducks in rice paddies and hatching ducklings.
Driven by the need to make a living, in his early years Jiang Zongxiang and his wife took their family with them to start a business elsewhere, renting paddy fields to grow rice, raise fish and free-range water ducks. The rented house had no electric lights, so they used kerosene lamps; the fish fry needed guarding, so they built a straw shed by the pond; when people with ideas of getting something for nothing came to steal fish, they patiently reasoned with them. In this way, their hard-earned savings all turned into shining rewards.
To take the path of professional duck farming, they expanded their scale and worked in close coordination, often getting up in the middle of the night to prepare for the next day's work. Once they had some savings, he used the old house to set up a hatchery and became the first comprehensive production specialist household in Jiangshan City, and their warm service and honesty and trustworthiness made their road wider and wider, making them outstanding among duck farmers.
A story of getting rich
Jiang Zongxiang, a farmer from Dalubian Village in Xintangbian Town, went out to start a business in Xiakou Town, 30 km away, and from growing rice and raising fish to raising ducks, he forged a road to prosperity by raising ducks and hatching ducklings.
20 years ago, when Jiang Zongxiang and his wife were in the prime of their youth, they brought his mother and 3 young children and, each carrying a load of quilts, clothes, a kerosene stove and bowls and tableware, came to Lianfeng Village in Xiakou Town, 30 km away, to rent a house and start a business. Relying on hard work, the couple rented more than 50 mu of paddy fields in Lianfeng and neighboring villages, and based on the utilization rate of the paddy fields, planted half with rice and dug ponds on half to raise fish. He made comprehensive use of the rice paddies and also released more than 200 water ducks into the paddy fields.
At that time the rented house had poor conditions, and there was not even an electric light in the room, so he bought a kerosene lamp for lighting. When the fish fry had grown big enough to sell, they needed to be guarded at night, so he built a straw shed beside the fish pond and spent the night in the straw shed with a flashlight. Sometimes a few people from neighboring villages who wanted to get something for nothing would come at night to steal fish, and he was magnanimous; every time he ran into fish thieves, he always persuaded them with kind words to leave.
With this kind of diversified farming, although the couple worked a bit harder, they could earn tens of thousands of yuan in economic income each year. 3 years later, Jiang Zongxiang built 4 rooms on Yingfu Road in Xiakou Town beside National Highway 205, and from then on ended 3 years of renting four or five places and living a wandering sort of life. With a house of their own, their confidence and drive for entrepreneurship grew even stronger. With years of experience raising ducks in rice paddies, a few years later Jiang Zongxiang and his wife began to take the path of professional duck farming.
"When you are sure of something, you must boldly go and do it!" With years of duck-raising experience, in his first year of professional duck farming Jiang Zongxiang bought back 5,000 ducklings right away. In the daily management of herding ducks, the couple followed each other's lead and coordinated very well, the ducks were raised very successfully, and in the first year they achieved fairly good economic returns. After the second year, he continuously increased the scale of breeding, with the number of ducks raised each year reaching more than 20,000 to 30,000, and economic returns also continuously increasing.
"Although duck farming has its fluctuations, there is still profit to be made, but it is quite hard work." He said that raising tens of thousands of ducks in a year, with fresh ducks to sell and several thousand laying ducks to keep, the couple often got up in the middle of the night to collect duck eggs or sort the ducks into grades and prepare for selling fresh ducks. When the duck egg market was good, dealers would come to the door to buy duck eggs before dawn; when the duck egg market was poor, they needed to provide delivery service to customers' doors. A year later, the couple really could not handle it all, so they hired 2 middle-aged and elderly people specifically to herd the ducks. Every year he kept more than 4,000 laying ducks, making him outstanding among the many duck farmers.
4 years ago, he increased his investment and expanded the duck industry, setting up a hatchery of more than 500 sq m behind the house he had bought before, becoming the first production specialist household in Jiangshan City to both raise laying ducks on a scale and hatch ducklings in a comprehensive operation. From then on, the couple became even busier. Local hatching duck eggs were not enough, so they also had to buy duck eggs in the Pucheng and Guangfeng areas. During the duckling hatching season every winter and spring, they had to hire five or six people including hatching technicians to help. In recent years, the hatchery he runs has hatched more than 150,000 ducklings for sale each year. Thanks to warm service and honesty and trustworthiness, the ducklings hatched in each cycle were all ordered up early by duck farmers in the local area and neighboring townships.