Opinions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Stabilizing Hog Production and Ensuring Market Supply
Release time： 2019-03-25
【Summary Description】
Agricultural and Rural (Agriculture and Pastoral, Animal Husbandry) Departments (Bureaus, Commissions) of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and cities under separate planning; Agricultural and Rural Bureau of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:
In recent months, China’s pig production capacity has continued to decline, with a significant drop in the number of breeding sows in stock. As a result, pork prices may rise sharply in the coming period. To stabilize pig production and ensure an adequate supply in the pork market, we hereby put forward the following recommendations.
I. Accelerate the implementation of policies and measures to stabilize and promote pig production development.
All localities must effectively implement the subsidy policy for mandatory culling of pigs affected by African swine fever, ensuring that culling subsidies are promptly and fully disbursed to farm operators. It is essential to make coordinated use of policy funds, such as rewards for counties that significantly export live pigs, with a particular focus on supporting breeding pig farms and large-scale pig farms to quickly resume production. Provincial departments of agriculture and rural affairs, in coordination with provincial finance departments, should promptly develop and issue temporary production relief subsidy policies for breeding pig farms, local breed conservation farms, and large-scale pig farms, thereby effectively stabilizing the basic production capacity of pigs. We should also make efficient use of special central government funds allocated for African swine fever prevention and control, supporting activities such as origin-based quarantine of live pigs, slaughterhouse inspections, and monitoring of transport vehicles. At the same time, we should actively communicate with local finance departments to secure appropriate subsidies for the disposal of African swine fever-positive pork products, the establishment of vehicle washing and disinfection centers, the provision of testing equipment and instruments for pig slaughtering and processing enterprises, and the development of African swine fever-free zones and disease-free communities. In accordance with the requirements of the State Council’s special meeting, we must strengthen cooperation with banking and financial institutions to further stabilize expectations, maintain credit availability, and ensure continued support. No bank shall arbitrarily suspend or restrict lending to pig farmers and slaughtering and processing enterprises. We should coordinate the nationwide agricultural credit guarantee system to fully leverage its policy-oriented guarantee functions, providing credit enhancement support for pig farmers applying for loans. Where conditions permit, local governments may, based on their fiscal capabilities, offer necessary interest-rate subsidies on loans. We must also implement insurance policies for breeding sows and fattening pigs, ensuring full compensation payments to eligible farm operators.
II. Strengthen production and market monitoring and early warning.
Accelerate the integration of government information resources between the central and provincial levels, and promote the integrated construction of regulatory and monitoring information for the hog industry chain. Each province should, in accordance with the requirement of “one province, one plan,” promptly refine its own monitoring and early-warning work plans. Establish a funding subsidy mechanism for grassroots information collection, primarily supported by provincial fiscal funds and supplemented by central fiscal funds, to ensure the stability of monitoring data and enhance data quality. Intensify efforts to promote the “Zhangshang Muyun” client platform—a direct connection and reporting system for large-scale farms—and accelerate the implementation of direct data connections and reporting from leading enterprises and large-scale farms. Strengthen monitoring at the hog slaughtering stage and expand the scope of monitoring for the slaughter of culled breeding sows. Launch monthly, fixed-point monitoring pilot programs for breeding pig farms and boar stations. Enhance dynamic monitoring of wholesale pork market prices and trading volumes, increase the release of authoritative data, strengthen information dissemination and services, and promote increased breeding and restocking efforts.
III. Optimize pandemic response and transportation supervision.
All localities shall strictly follow the “Emergency Response Plan for African Swine Fever Outbreaks (2019)” and handle newly reported outbreaks in a standardized and rigorous manner. In the course of outbreak management, full consideration must be given to factors such as geographic conditions, transportation networks, building layouts, and livestock management levels. Risks should be scientifically assessed, and the scope of culling should be precisely determined. Veterinary inspections at the place of origin must be carried out strictly in accordance with quarantine regulations, and no quarantine certificates may be withheld without justifiable reasons. Strengthen the registration and management of vehicles transporting live pigs, intensify inspection efforts during the transportation phase, implement thorough cleaning, disinfection, and harmless treatment measures, and resolutely eliminate the risk of disease transmission via the transportation link. All localities must fully implement the “Notice of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Standardizing the Transportation of Live Pigs and Pig Products” (Nongyu Fa [2018] No. 23), further refine convenient measures, optimize procedures, and ensure the smooth transportation of eligible breeding pigs and piglets. Support large-scale farms and slaughterhouses in conducting “point-to-point” transportation of live pigs and their products, and prohibit any layering of additional restrictions or bans on transportation. Scientifically delineate no-breeding zones; for issues such as overextending no-breeding zones or arbitrarily expanding the scope of no- and limited-breeding areas, rectification measures must be implemented within a specified time frame—absolutely no blanket bans should be imposed without proper review and adjustment.
IV. Deeply promote standardized and large-scale farming.
Accelerate the transformation of hog production methods, provide multi-channel support to farm operators for improving their infrastructure and equipment, and build facilities such as pig-loading platforms, disinfection and cleaning rooms, bio-isolation zones, and high-pressure sterilization equipment, thereby enhancing biosecurity levels on farms. Implement policies for the resource utilization of manure and sewage, increase subsidies for the purchase of equipment used in manure and sewage resource utilization, and support large-scale pig farms in constructing and perfecting environmental protection facilities and equipment. Reasonably plan and effectively ensure the land supply needed for the development of large-scale pig farms. Continue carrying out demonstration activities for standardized hog farming, promoting joint creation at the central, provincial, municipal, and county levels, and establishing a group of high-standard demonstration farms that are highly efficient in production, environmentally friendly, safe in products, advanced in management, and compliant with disease prevention protocols, thus truly playing a leading and driving role. Seriously implement the "Opinions of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the Organic Integration of Smallholder Farmers and Modern Agriculture," encouraging and supporting smallholder farmers who meet the conditions to steadily expand their scale and develop modern family farms that are appropriately sized, intensively managed, advanced in management, and demonstrably profitable.
V. Adjust and Optimize the Layout of the Hog Industry
In sales regions with low self-sufficiency rates for live pigs, it is essential to actively expand live pig production based on local conditions, rationally plan and arrange production layouts, and gradually increase the self-sufficiency rate. For provinces that, due to objective constraints such as environmental capacity, genuinely cannot meet the self-sufficiency requirements, they should proactively connect with neighboring provinces, collaborate to establish breeding bases, and enhance their ability to ensure local supply. A zoned prevention and control plan for African swine fever should be formulated and implemented, strengthening coordinated planning and layout within regions and promoting joint prevention and control efforts. Pilot regions should promptly establish regional prevention and control mechanisms, expedite the development of specific implementation plans, carefully organize and carry out these plans, and promptly summarize best practices and lessons learned. Other regions should also promptly launch relevant work and establish a system of inter-provincial joint meetings within their respective regions. The layout of the slaughtering industry should be scientifically planned, following the principles of “centralized slaughtering, brand-based operations, cold-chain transportation, and chilled-fresh market release.” We should accelerate the establishment of standardized demonstration models for live pig slaughtering, creating an industrial layout that matches breeding with slaughtering and aligns slaughtering with consumption. Support should be provided for pig farming enterprise groups to pursue full-industry-chain development within provincial or regional management frameworks.
6. Strengthen the promotion and application of practical technologies.
Strengthen research on technologies for the prevention and control of African swine fever, and continuously improve integrated disease-control techniques covering all links—including breeding, transportation, and slaughtering. Based on different regions and various farming models, summarize and promote practical technologies tailored to local conditions, such as biosecurity measures and cleaning and disinfection protocols for swine. We must organize technical personnel from animal husbandry and veterinary extension agencies, industry associations, and research institutes to help farm operators overcome technical challenges encountered in production and disease prevention through various forms of support. We should intensify efforts to promote superior swine breeds, effectively boosting sow reproductive rates and piglet survival rates. Furthermore, we need to enhance training in practical technologies, with particular emphasis on increasing training efforts for breeding farms and large-scale pig farms, thereby genuinely improving their disease-prevention capabilities.
7. Effectively strengthen organizational guarantees.
Further implement the “Vegetable Basket” mayors’ responsibility system, firmly uphold the primary responsibility of mayors in ensuring the supply and stabilizing prices of live pigs, and enhance capabilities in live pig production, market circulation, quality and safety supervision, and regulatory safeguards. Agricultural and rural departments across various regions should unify their understanding and genuinely prioritize stabilizing live pig production as a top priority for the current period, ensuring effective organization and implementation. They should proactively coordinate and actively seek policy support from local governments and relevant departments, further strengthen communication and collaboration, and build synergies in their work. Closely monitor new developments and emerging issues arising during the development of live pig production, and carefully study and formulate appropriate solutions. While stabilizing live pig production, also comprehensively manage the supply of other livestock products such as beef, mutton, and poultry, and meet market demand through multiple channels. All localities must submit reports on their implementation of these guidelines to the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau of our Ministry by April 30.
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