China News Service, Shaoyang, June 11 Question: University students from Xinshao County, Hunan Province, return to their hometowns and become "duck commanders"

　　Author Wang Haohao Tong Zhonghan Luo Lianghong

　　In Meibujiang Village, Xiaotang Town, Xinshao County, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, He Meifeng, Chen Yanling, and Bi Tao, entrepreneurs who returned home, were quite famous. In 2019, they transferred more than 400 acres of rice fields to grow high-quality rice, and at the same time raised more than 50,000 small pond ducks, driving more than 100 local poor households to increase their income. Abandoning the superior conditions of the city and returning to their hometown, they are only for a rustic feeling: revitalizing the old brand of their hometown-Xiaotang Ma Ya.

"White-collar" becomes "Chao Nong"

　　He Meifeng is the highest school graduate of these three returning entrepreneurs. Born in 1989, she graduated from Hunan Agricultural University with an undergraduate major in aquaculture and a postgraduate major in aquatic biology.

　　"Mabujiang Village is surrounded by mountains and rivers, there is Shimajiang River with clear water quality, and there are Xiaotang Ma Ya which has been rated as a geographical protection product of China. Such a good agricultural brand has always lacked the development of agricultural talents to revitalize it." He Meifeng said After graduating in 2016, she has been engaged in education and training, and her salary is not bad, but she has always had a beautiful country dream in her mind, hoping to apply what she has learned to revitalize her hometown.

　　In 2018, she shared this idea with Chen Yanling, who also graduated from Hunan Agricultural University, and the two hit it off. Under their "lobbying", Bi Tao, a post-90s college student and retired soldier who had studied mechanical and electrical majors in the same village, also joined them. The "white-collar workers" in the three old cities have transformed into "new farmers" in the new era. Their division of labor is clear. He Meifeng, who studies the cultivation and breeding profession, is the "technical expert" of the team. Chen Yanling, who studies human resources, is responsible for the staffing and adjustment of the entire cooperative. Tao took the "big flag" of agricultural machinery operation and maintenance.

　　At the end of 2018, the three established the Xinshan County Chengshantou Eco-agricultural Cooperative. In 2019, the villagers adopted a share-sharing model. 400 acres of high-quality rice were planted on the land and more than 50,000 small ducks were raised.

Flocks of ducks frolic in the water. Tong Zhonghan

The bitterness and sweetness of "new farmers"

　　All beginnings are hard. When they were first engaged in agricultural production, the three people who were under heavy agricultural work couldn't breathe. Even Bi Tao, who had been a soldier and a fitness coach, couldn't bear it. When transplanting rice seedlings in May 2019, in order to seize the sowing season, Bi Tao drove the rice transplanter in the field from morning until dark, and he lay on his chair when he arrived at night and didn't want to move, even eating. But when I think that if the only one who understands the mechanical operation is tired, he will miss the season, so no matter how hard or tired, he will force himself to finish.

　　No pain no gain. In 2019, the high-quality rice they planted, due to the use of duck dung fattening, biological methods to prevent insect pests, rice is in short supply in the market. The Xiaotang Ma Ducks they raise adopt the traditional free-range model. They eat small fish and shrimps in the Shima River, insects and snails in the rice fields. They are kept for four months before they are sold. 3. Good taste and hot sales.

　　What is even more gratifying for them is that many poor households in the village have completely changed their lives after working in cooperatives. Liu Su'e, a poor family in his 70s, has been struggling with life because of his paralysis. In 2019, he earned more than 20,000 yuan as a cooperative worker; Liu Lihua, in his 50s, has a disability in his leg and walks limpingly. He is responsible for watching ducks in the cooperative. After that, it also has an annual income of about 20,000 yuan.

　　"They sometimes picked mushrooms on the mountain and they took it to thank us. These details moved me very much and felt that they had done something very meaningful." Chen Yanling said.

Willing to work with aspiring young people to build "Mall Duck Town"

　　After a small trial in 2019, the entrepreneurial stories of the three college students spread to the United States. Many villagers came here to invest in this "potential stock" and became shareholders of the cooperative. Currently, 106 villagers have invested in the cooperative. This year, they further expanded the scale of breeding and circulated more than 5,000 acres of land in the three townships of Xintianpu, Xiaotang, and Jukoupu to plant high-quality rice, and the breeding scale of Xiaotang Ma duck also reached more than 200,000 pigs.

　　"Along the way, I really want to thank the government of Xiaotang Town and the poverty alleviation team of the Xinshao County Civil Affairs Bureau in the village, especially the Xinshao County Commerce Bureau has organized us to go to Changsha and other places to participate in large-scale trade fairs, let our small The Tang Ma duck walks out of Xinshao and sells well inside and outside the province." Chen Yanling said that the dream of the three people is that when people want to eat ducks in the future, they will think of the Xiao Tang Ma duck.

　　In addition to expanding the scale of breeding this year, the three also used their special skills to compile and direct short videos on the theme of Xiaotang Ma Ya, and sell their local specialties through online platforms such as Douyin.

　　"Although you may only sleep for five or six hours a day when you are busy, as long as we have time, we want to copy, shoot videos, and edit paragraphs." He Meifeng said that the purpose of the video shooting is to show the Xiaotang Ma duck, but also hope to show new The vitality of rural youth in the era has attracted more aspiring young people to return to their hometowns to start businesses. Together, they will make the Xiaotang Ma Ya brand bigger and stronger. In the future, Mabujiang Village will be built into a "Ma Ya Town". (Finish)