context: The impact of African swine fever has begun to show up clearly in ag market data, with live pig population down over 16 percent y-o-y and the price of pork and piglets beginning to creep upward on tight supply. International media have cited credible sources suggesting the extent of the outbreak is substantially higher than officially reported domestically; these opinions were published the morning after international media broke that story. Rumoured outbreaks at the relatively small number of piglet breeding bases that supply large farms are of critical concern, and explicitly targeted in this document.
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) released ‘Opinions on stabilising live pig production, and guaranteeing supply for market’, stipulating
- implementing measures to stabilise live pig production
- effective implementation of subsidy policies for pig culls
- supporting large-scale pig farms to resume production
- provincial ag and finance agencies to introduce temporary production assistance and subsidy policy for large-scale farms
- giving appropriate subsidies for building ASF-free zones and transportation vehicle disinfection centres
- cooperating with financial institutions to ensure loan access for live pig farming and processing companies
- strengthening monitoring of production and market data, including
- pig slaughter
- market price and transaction information
- breeding farm monitoring
- optimising epidemic treatment and transportation regulations
- scientifically determining the scope of pig culls by considering local geographical conditions, transportation infrastructure, and farm management capacity
- dynamically adjusting pig farming ban zones as needed
- guaranteeing piglet and pig transportation
- promoting standardised large-scale farming
- improving farming equipment
- implementing pig waste management measures
- guaranteeing land supply for pig farming
- encouraging small farms to scale up
- optimising live pig industry layout
- increasing live pig self-sufficiency in feed
- strengthening connection with farming bases in nearby provinces to guarantee supply
- building regional joint prevention and control mechanisms in pilot provinces
- scientifically planning slaughter industry layout according to production and consumption
- strengthening promotion and application of technologies concerning
- ASF epidemic treatment and control
- disease prevention
- disinfection
- high-quality pig variety promotion
- increasing sow reproductive rate and piglet survival rate
- safeguard measures
- ensuring stable supply of beef, mutton, and poultry products