Chapter 94: This Project Is Not Bad

For example, bamboo rats have the high reproductive rate typical of rodents; they can go into heat all year round, give birth about sixty days after mating, and produce a litter of over a dozen pups, which grow to about two kilograms in a few dozen days and can then begin reproducing themselves.

At this rate, in a farm without natural predators, a single pair of bamboo rats can breed into a family of hundreds within a year.

Bamboo rats have a varied diet—they can eat any plant with coarse fibers, such as various grasses, bamboo, sugarcane tops, and branches, and with just a little supplementation of trace elements and vaccinations, that's the entire cost, averaging only a few yuan per kilogram.

The contract between Huimin Trading Company and the farm sets the purchase price for bamboo rats at forty yuan per kilogram; each rat reaches an average market weight of four to five kilograms, yielding a profit of over a hundred yuan per animal.

Think about it—this farm can market at least several hundred to over a thousand bamboo rats per year, generating tens of thousands in profit alone; as the scale expands in the future, profits will only grow higher.

In short, based on current scale, this specialized farm could generate profits of over a hundred thousand yuan per year—a staggering sum for a small village of a few hundred people.

Zhang Kaishan is a highly pragmatic leader; he clearly heard that Professor Rao's words contained no fluff—they were all practical—and he could plainly see that this farm had real potential.

This delighted him; as the vice-county magistrate in charge of agriculture, Meng Hu Ling had always been a difficult challenge—he had tried many methods before to improve conditions here, all without success, but now it seemed Meng Hu Ling might finally escape poverty.

After inspecting the farm, Zhang Kaishan went to the village committee to examine the bamboo crafts produced during this period.

It had been over ten days since Song Qiaoli last collected the bamboo crafts; now, several hundred new pieces had been made, and thanks to Xia Zhu's open sharing of skills and the women's long-term practice, their craftsmanship had improved significantly.

This batch of bamboo crafts showed a substantial leap in complexity compared to the last, greatly increasing their added value—when Song Qiaoli returns next time to collect them, she will be pleasantly surprised.

Zhang Kaishan learned that the first batch of bamboo crafts had generated over five thousand yuan in sales; he was quite surprised—he remembered Su Xinghui had only found this path less than a month ago, yet already achieved such results, which astonished him greatly.

When he heard from Xia Lan that the village's second batch of bamboo crafts might sell for over ten thousand yuan, Zhang Kaishan was even more astonished.

Upon learning that all employees of the bamboo craft workshop were women, Zhang Kaishan praised Xia Lan for her excellent work as women's committee director; but Xia Lan, of course, would not claim credit for what was not hers—she said it was all Su Xinghui who had found this path, enabling these women to create value.

Xia Lan boldly joked in front of Zhang Kaishan that since the village started the farm and the bamboo craft workshop, the previously most difficult family planning work had become much easier—before, as soon as night fell, men and women alike would go to bed, but now they were all busy earning money.

Xia Lan's words made Zhang Kaishan burst into laughter; though crude, the logic was sound—villagers previously had no entertainment and no way to earn money; what else could they do at night but reproduce? Now that they had hope of earning, who wouldn't want to earn more?

After laughing, Zhang Kaishan reflected deeply: it seemed all problems ultimately stem from the economy—once the economy improves, many issues resolve themselves naturally.