Returning home to start a business to help rural revitalization
How difficult is it for "new farmers" to return to their hometowns?
Is raising fish on high loess slopes a good business?
"Objectively speaking, it is definitely not for 'new farmers' who have no technical and financial advantages." In the 10 years since he returned to his hometown to start a business, Chang Shengli has done almost everything he can think of, such as recreational fishing, professional fishing. , ecological breeding, etc., but has never been able to enter the "safe zone".
He said that from the day he returned to his hometown, he had been ready for the "Long March".
Today, like Chang Shengli, with the steady advancement of the rural revitalization strategy, more and more young entrepreneurs are returning home to start businesses with experience, capital and technology.
However, the entrepreneurial stories of many returning youths have been mixed, and they have even encountered entrepreneurial failures.
How "new farmers" can gain a firm foothold in their hometown is becoming a new question for rural revitalization talent training and grass-roots governance. After years of practice and exploration, some "new farmers" have realized that: in addition to being good at working with rural society Deal with, learn to communicate, but also continue to learn all aspects of knowledge.
There is no "safe zone" for returning home to start a business
"Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. Every time I hear this sentence, I immediately think of my hometown." Chang Shengli said that the reason why he chose to develop fishery in the semi-arid area of southern Shanxi is because his hometown has been in the semi-arid area for many years. There is a tradition of fish farming; the second is to benefit from the local government's water intake project on the main stream of the Yellow River, and a certain water source is guaranteed.
Before returning to his hometown, he had been wandering abroad for some years. He not only accumulated capital, technology and experience, but also had a relatively more rational understanding of returning to his hometown to start a business.
After many investigations, he began to build a fish pond in the Fuhe Reservoir to raise fish.
"Starting a business is too difficult, and risks always go hand in hand." Chang Shengli recalled that there was a long drought in the year, and crops and reservoirs were short of water. According to the past, every farming season, Fuhe Reservoir would help farmers pump water at cost price to irrigate the land. However, this time the water consumption was too large, causing the water level of the reservoir to drop, the crops were saved, but the fish suffocated and died in a large area, almost the entire army was wiped out, and the direct economic loss was millions of yuan.
"I almost couldn't turn over that time, and I was under too much pressure." He said that at that time, many people persuaded him that the reservoir was a bottomless pit, so he should go back and do his own business, but since the day he returned to his hometown, he has not considered a retreat.
After 10 years of continuous investment and struggle, the fishery development of the Fuhe Reservoir has begun to take shape and the economic benefits have begun to emerge.
In contrast, Liu Caihong, a returning youth from Shilou County, Luliang, Shanxi Province, is in the most difficult stage of starting a business.
At first, she chose to plant peppercorns in 350 mu of hillside land in her hometown.
In the first year, Liu Caihong followed the learned method of "growing large seedlings on watery land and small seedlings on dry land", but the entire army of small seedlings was wiped out.
The next year, she replanted all the large saplings. Unexpectedly, the autumn rains that year caused the roots of the replanted saplings to rot.
In the third year, I learned the lessons of the previous two years and directly planted saplings with soil balls, and the survival rate finally reached 90%.
In three years, after investing more than 3 million yuan in succession, Liu Caihong had little savings left and repaid the loan. "Aside from the cost of land transfer, weeding, watering, and maintenance all cost money."
She bluntly said that she thought it was simple at first, but she did not expect that there would be problems in all aspects of finance, policy, technology, personnel, and qualifications, and there would be many difficulties.
She couldn't help but reflect, why is it so difficult in her hometown to start her own business successfully in a big city?
Where exactly is the market?
Now, she has to suspend the expansion of the pepper field, and go out to work with her partner again, making money while "transfusion" for the pepper field in her hometown.
After graduation, Zhang Yun, a young man from Lvliang, returned to his hometown to develop meal replacement porridge products with local characteristic agricultural products as the main raw materials.
His feeling is that since he returned to his hometown to start a business in 2017, his career is encountering a bottleneck, and there are not many friends who started a business together.
"In the past few years, there were indeed a lot of people who returned to their hometowns to start businesses, and they communicated frequently and lively, but then the number of entrepreneurs gradually decreased, and some left the countryside and returned to the city, and I'm afraid they won't come back again." Zhang Yun said.
Learn to communicate and not be a "foreigner"
In Liu Caihong's view, the "township" of returning to the hometown to start a business is not only a village in the sense of natural resources endowment and geographical space, but also a process of reintegrating an individual into the village. The communication between entrepreneurs and the government, villagers, and partners is very important. It will even determine the future pattern.
One year, with the help of the local government, she wanted to cooperate with a businessman from Yiwu, Zhejiang. The talks went well at first. Later, considering that some of Liu Caihong's pepper products were not qualified, the business suggested Liu Caihong to give up her own brand and post it. Brand production and small profits but quick turnover made her unacceptable. "Looking back now, there was no communication in place at that time. If you accept the other party's suggestion first, after the sales are opened, it is not impossible to create a brand again."
Another time, a local investor was optimistic about her career development and wanted to become a shareholder and cooperate, but the other party suggested that if the company does not operate well in the future, a reasonable exit mechanism should be established to stop losses in time.
This condition aroused the disgust of Liu Caihong's team. "Everyone thinks that since it is a cooperation, they must work together. How can they think that they will fail or withdraw their shares before they have done it."
"We didn't know much at the time, and we rejected the other party based on the folk customs of the township and personal understanding, so we rejected the other party." Liu Caihong said that after studying the company law, he discovered that there are very clear regulations on equity transfer.
The other party's demands were reasonable and compliant, but because of poor communication and mutual understanding, they missed the opportunity.
In this regard, Chang Shengli appears to be more experienced.
"At that time, the county encouraged young people to return to their hometowns to start businesses and provided a lot of preferential policies." Knowing the great changes since the poverty alleviation in his hometown, he quickly established Guosheng Fishery Co., Ltd. and began to develop fisheries with the support of the local government. "In this way, we not only raise fish, but also help the villagers solve the problem of irrigation, killing two birds with one stone."
"Without the support of the government, I wouldn't be where I am today." Chang Shengli said that when implementing the company's development strategy, he mostly relies on his elders and villagers to communicate well, and at the same time establish a win-win interest linkage mechanism for all parties.
Difficult households, ordinary villagers and leaders of getting rich can all participate in it and get benefits, and naturally they will not "scrape wool" or cause damage from the project.
On the Double Ninth Festival, he would bring his team of young people to several nearby villages to visit and console the elderly and needy households, and at the same time send living materials to the frontline staff.
"The two committees of the village branch also helped us coordinate the classification of land use with fellow villagers, rational irrigation of water sources, etc., and did a lot of things to help the development of the reservoir." In his view, the young entrepreneurs who returned home learned to deal with the rural society and learn to communicate , is a lesson that must be made up, "The point is not to let yourself become a 'foreigner'."
Today, relying on the Fuhe Reservoir, the land of Jixu Village has also begun to change. There are more people farming the land, and characteristic industries such as vegetable greenhouses have begun to appear.
If you can't keep up with learning, risks will be everywhere
In an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily, it was found that most entrepreneurs have an urgent need for professional knowledge learning and entrepreneurial training.
"On the one hand, you can gain knowledge, and on the other hand, you can broaden your horizons and accumulate contacts." Benefiting from the rural revitalization policy in his hometown, Zhang Yun has been recommended to visit and study in large enterprises twice recently, and he also participated in legal training on private enterprises. I visited the company’s industrial + cultural tourism + research development method for the second time, and I was very excited and inspired. I didn’t expect the factory to run like this.”
After participating in the legal training, he said with more emotion: "Learning has refreshed my three views. Whether it is now or in the future, it is very important to enhance the awareness of the rule of law. Many entrepreneurs have weak awareness of the rule of law. Once a problem occurs, it will cause irreparable losses.”
Zhang Yun said that he also plans to expand and renovate the factory after returning home, so that children in his hometown can also walk into the modern factory to learn about agricultural culture, and at the same time drive family consumption and diversify development. "From pure product output, to culture + Product output is more beneficial to our development."
"There are too many things to learn." After several crises, Chang Shengli also realized that with the development of his career, a series of problems appeared, such as how to solve the problem of excessive ammonia nitrogen and nitrite in circulating aquaculture water. Professional issues such as these have become a "stuck neck" problem that restricts the development of reservoirs. "All in all, if you can't keep up with your studies, risks will be everywhere."
In the meantime, benefiting from the support of the local government for returning entrepreneurs, Changshengli Reservoir, from fishery farming to fruit tree seed selection, planting, fertilization, to field management, and increasing production and efficiency, has won experts from the county water conservancy bureau and agriculture bureau. of careful guidance and assistance.
Recently, he is studying the national theoretical books on "three rural" work, "On the way to revitalize the countryside, how to find one's own position, integrate into the development of the hometown, and share prosperity with the elders and villagers, these are the key issues we need to think about."
Liu Caihong, who is going through the difficult time, also expressed similar ideas. She hopes that the government can match up and organize regular entrepreneurial training, information communication, industry exchanges and other activities for entrepreneurs.
If possible, local governments may wish to take the lead in striving for cooperation with high-quality enterprises, so that small and medium-sized entrepreneurs can not only accumulate experience, but also reduce costs and risks.
Li Zheya, the founder of the “Hometown Visitor”, an agricultural assistance organization, said that at present, most rural entrepreneurship is concentrated in the fields of agriculture and tourism, with a long cycle and large investment. Therefore, learning is particularly important.
"Many people think that they can start a business if they know how to farm and breed. In fact, it is far from that simple." Li Zheya said that the lack of practical experience, lack of professional knowledge learning, and difficulty in financing may all lead to entrepreneurial crisis.
China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporter Hu Zhizhong