Accelerating pig production in China’s Pearl River Delta

The Ministry of Agriculture of China (MOA) on November 27 released a guidance on the pig farm presence in the ten cities of the Pearl River Delta Region.
As pointed out by MOA, with the accelerating development of pig production, increasing stocking density of pigs, disproportionate layout of the farms in the region, loose combination of farming and animal husbandry as well as poor comprehensive utilization of waste altogether bring pig farming in conflict with water environment protection.
According to the guidance, the pig production methods and the layout of the farms in the Delta should be optimized to promote standardized farming and the model of combination of farming and animal husbandry. The guidance set forth a goal that by 2020, the large farms with yearly output more than 500 head of pigs should account for more than 70 percent of all pig farms in the Pearl River Delta Region. More than 85 percent of the large-scale pig farms should be equipped with animal waste disposal facilities and more than 75 percent of the pig manure be reused.
The MOA also noted that the quantity of pigs in the Pearl River Delta Region has exceeded the land carrying capacity and the Yangtze River Delta is now left with limited space for swine production while pig farming in the lower reaches of Huaihe River is still at its initial stage.