Hechi speciality chicken draws attention at Two Sessions

Qibainong chicken of Dahua Yao autonomous county, Hechi. [Photo/Hechi Daily]

Qibainong chicken, a speciality food of Dahua Yao autonomous county, Hechi, has been selected as the designated dish of this year's Two Sessions and served on the tables of political advisers all over the county.

Qibainong chicken is a local breed of the Yao people in Qibainong township, Dahua Yao autonomous county, one of the four extremely impoverished counties in Guangxi. The county has harsh natural conditions, with rocky mountains accounting for 90.1 percent of its area, making it not suitable for human habitation.

Due to its long breeding history and strong resistance to disease, Dahua regarded Qibailong chicken as a key industry for poverty alleviation, especially for impoverished people in rocky mountain areas, and carried out key cultivation and vigorous development.

At the end of 2016, Qibailong chicken was recognized as a China Protected Geographical Indication Product. In the second half of 2018, Dahua began to expand the scale of breeding Qibailong chickens and the industry has entered a stage of rapid development. By the end of 2019, a total of 158 joint construction and raising workshops were set up in the county, breeding 2 million chickens.

Over the past few years, more than 50,000 people of 15,000 impoverished households have been lifted out of poverty by breeding Qibainong chickens.

"It is not only a delicious dish, but also the hope of the Yao people to get rid of poverty," said Zou Shengting, a deputy to the National People's Congress from Hechi, when introducing the story of Qibainong chicken.