Tibetannet

Some call Yeshe Zhoigar the champion of chicken-raising, some call her a provincial tycoon, and some think she is as kind as a Buddha, but if you asked her, she is a messenger for the grassroots, she is working for the farmers and the shepherds, and she is trying to get more people out of poverty.

In 1974, Yeshe Zhoigar was born in an ordinary Tibetan family in southern Tibet. From when she was young, she realized no matter how hard her parents worked, they could barely feed and clothe their family of eight. She was strong-willed and vowed to change her family’s situation.

At 13-years-old, she dropped out of school to work on the family farm. When she turned 17, an older friend from Hubei Province wanted to go back home, so she got the idea of coming along “to go to inner China to learn more.”

She had only 550 yuan saved when she left, 500 of which she handed to her mom, leaving just 50 yuan for herself. She borrowed money for a train ticket. When she reached Wuhan City, capital of Hubei Province a week later, she had almost no money left. Seeing how eager she wanted to explore, her friend gave her 10 yuan. Yeshe Zhoigar said “she clutched the money tightly and was so grateful.”

Yeshe Zhoigar loved the hustle and bustle of the city of Wuhan, she imagined the same prosperity for Tibet one day. Soon, she found a job in Hubei Province, and met her husband Gan Xuedong. It was at her husband’s hometown that she got to know the poultry-raising industry.

Yeshe Zhoigar’s hometown was naturally blessed with the perfect conditions for raising chickens. She got the idea of going back and starting a business there. She spent months to learn the craft from experienced poultry breeders. In 2003, she and her husband returned to southern Tibet and invested all of their savings, 300 thousand yuan earned from years of work, into a Tibetan chicken farm. “We lost everything by the second year because of lack of experience.” She said.

She said she got out of the slump thanks to encouragement from friends and family. Their business gradually improved and life got better.

When the young woman who had only 50 yuan became the owner of a 30 million yuan poultry-raising business, she would see the impoverished villagers and be reminded of her old self. “I got help when I had nothing, now I want to help others.”

In 2008, she opened a poultry-raising cooperative to try to make all the villagers rich. But at first, due to no experience and fear of risk, few villagers wanted to join. So she went door-to-door to persuade them and even offered free chicks and chicken feed to have people try it out, and was always there to answer every question.

Nyima is from Yeshe Zhoigar’s village and has three kids. A small patch of farm is the only thing Nyima had to make money to support his family. With Yeshe’s encouragement, he became the first villager to join the cooperative. After a few years, Nyima saved a lot of money and was even able to send one kid to college, something he has never dared to imagine before.

When villagers saw how raising chickens made money, more people started to join Yeshe’s cooperative. By now, the cooperative’s farmers are spread out through Tibet. Their income rose by more than 10 thousand yuan in 2015 alone.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the Chinese government declared war on poverty, vowing to lift more than 70 million people out of poverty in five years. To Yeshe, while her contribution may be limited, she believes that with the new targeted anti-poverty program in Tibet, when people know the reason for why they are impoverished, and can try a targeted solution, poverty is much easier to fight.