Poverty relief, profits come hand in hand

Dongda provides bunnies, feed, breeding facilities and veterinary services for farmers, and repurchases the rabbits when they grow up, with the Fengshuiliang Park as its rabbit production center. Currently, more than 3,000 rural families work with the park, enabling it to produce 5 million rabbits annually.

The rabbits are shipped to food and fur manufacturers for processing. The finished products are sold across the country and abroad, generating 1 billion yuan in combined sales, according to the company.

“I’m happy with the business,” Li Pengcheng, a rabbit breeder at the park, told China Central TV.

 He rakes in more than 80,000 yuan in income a year, with more than 20 yuan in profit per rabbit. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the per capita disposable income of rural residents was slightly more than 12,360 yuan last year.

More than 20,000 farmers in the park have profited from the cooperation strategy, which has been designated a poverty relief model to be promoted across the country by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

Sawdust resulting from the chipboard manufacturing process, rabbit manure and maize straw can be recycled to grow mushrooms.

Dongda has filed three invention patents for this innovative cultivation process and been granted certificates for two new mushroom varieties.

The company plans a new 1 billion yuan mushroom plant, which is designed to cover 240 hectares.

After it enters full operation, it will be able to provide 12,500 metric tons of mushrooms a year, generate 340 million yuan in annual sales revenue and help 20,000 local farmers to increase their incomes, according to the company.