Introduction: After the end of the plateau free clinic on July 14, the ninth batch of cadres aiding Tibet in Zibo City led reporters to visit the Riwuqiqi Tibetan Chicken Breeding Professional Cooperative, one of the first batch of Tibetan chicken farms in Riwuqi Township, where more than 200 Tibetan chickens were raised, although the number was small, but the eggs laid by Tibetan chickens were rare and expensive - they could be sold for 10 yuan in supermarkets in big cities. From the free-range breeding of a small number of villagers to the collective breeding of village-run cooperatives, the small Tibetan chicken pins on the big dream of the local people to get rich.
A farm worker observes a newborn chick.
The first batch of Tibetan chicken farms in Riwuqi Township
On the afternoon of 14 July, Chen Shaoyong, Wei Nianjun, Cai Zhipo, and other cadres of the ninth batch of cadres aiding Tibet in Zibo City, and Yang Jiguang, secretary of the Riwuqi Township Party Committee, led this reporter to a stone-enclosed courtyard in Riwuqi Village, Riwuqi Township. From the outside, this courtyard is a bit like the sheep pen and cattle pen of the Tibetan masses, but the difference is that there is a row of stone houses in the courtyard. Yang Jiguang, secretary of the party committee of Riwuqi Township, told reporters that Riwuqi Township has set up the first batch of 13 Tibetan chicken farms this year, and this is one of them, called the Riwuqiqiba Tibetan Chicken Breeding Professional Cooperative.
Farm staff told reporters that Tibetan chicken specifically refers to chickens raised on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, mainly distributed in the semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral areas at an altitude of 2200 meters to 4100 meters, the valley area of the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra River and the alpine valley area of the middle reaches of the Three Rivers in eastern Tibet. Compared with the chickens bred in the plains of China, Tibetan chickens are light in size, have short legs, and have developed wing feathers and tail feathers.
In order to hide from the strong sunlight, Tibetan chickens hide in the shade of trees in the woods to feed.
Farm staff observe the newborn chicks in the chicken coop, which give them hope.
The reporter saw in the yard that the environment in the yard was very clean, the ground was paved with gravel, the water on the mountain flowed through the yard, and most of the Tibetan chickens hid in the shade of trees to feed. As introduced by the staff, the Tibetan chicken is small in size, and the tail feathers are very developed, and some tail feathers are even longer than the body length. In order to avoid the fright of the tibetan chickens, the staff only allowed reporters to enter the farm, and other personnel could only wait outside the courtyard.
It turned out that a row of stone houses in the courtyard was a chicken coop, and the chicken coop had wooden shelves for chickens to rest at night, and a long row of wooden boxes was set up at the base of the wall, which was used for Tibetan chickens to hatch eggs. In another coop, there are also newly hatched tibetan chickens, led by hens foraging. In order to ensure the quality of the Tibetan chicken, the workers here will not interfere with the natural hatching process of the Tibetan chicken.
The chicken coop has a chicken rack for chickens to rest at night, and at the base of the wall is a wooden box for the eggs of the Tibetan chickens.
Cai Zhipo, the ninth batch of cadres in Zibo City, told reporters that the living environment of Tibetan chickens determines that "Tibetan eggs" have very high quality, and this high-quality egg just meets the willingness of high consumer groups to pursue natural and healthy, so it is very popular in big cities.
Villagers join the cooperative to participate in the sharing
Yang Jiguang told reporters that in the past, the Tibetan chickens in the village were all farmed by retail households, and a family also raised several chickens, and most of the eggs were eaten by themselves. First, it cannot form a scale effect, and second, it cannot reach the maximum market value. Last year, the first batch of 13 rural professional cooperatives were established in the township, and there was no unified breeding project at first, and from this year onwards, it was unified to a professional cooperative for Tibetan chicken breeding. Villagers take their own Tibetan chickens as capital into the cooperative, and the cooperative breeds and operates it in a unified way, and the villagers participate in the share of the cooperative according to the proportion of shareholding.
The advantage of this is that the number of Tibetan chickens is more likely to form a scale effect, and the unified breeding standard can ensure the quality of eggs, while the farm also helps some villagers solve the problem of nearby employment.
"Scarce things are expensive, don't look at the small one with hidden eggs, to a big city like Shanghai can sell for 10 yuan a piece." The staff of the farm said that there are currently more than 200 Tibetan chickens in the Tibetan chicken farm in Riwuqi Village, and the current breeding structure is still the majority of roosters, which can only produce more than 30 eggs a day. After the number of hens and roosters is balanced in the future, the daily egg production will increase significantly.
A newborn chick mischievously rode onto its mother's back.
Even with a significant increase in egg production, Tibetan eggs remain a scarce commodity because of the high altitude, where the average annual temperature is only single digits, and the annual egg production period of Tibetan chickens is much lower than that in plain areas.
"A 10 yuan egg, the villagers themselves eat it, if sold to the market, the villagers will have an extra income." At present, the Tibetan chicken farm has just started, the scale effect has not yet fully emerged, and when the scale of breeding is large in the future, the effect on the increase in income of villagers will be very obvious. Yang Jiguang said that the Tibetan chicken breeding industry in Riwuqi Township is an important industry to help the local people get rich in the future, and the industry has also received strong help and support from Zibo cadres who aid Tibet, whether it is breeding technology, feed sources or egg sales, The cadres who aid Tibet have been actively helping to solve practical problems.
Chen Shaoyong, the ninth batch of cadres in Zibo City to aid Tibet, said that for the prospects of Tibetan chicken breeding, local villagers, cadres and Zibo cadres aiding Tibet are very optimistic, and everyone is looking forward to opening up a "highway" for the local area to get rich as soon as possible.
If you are interested in "Tibetan eggs" produced at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, please contact Yang Jiguang, secretary of the Party Committee of Riwuqi Township, Angren County, Tel: 13908929252.