Donkey industry calls for "equal treatment" with cattle and sheep

The first China Donkey Industry Development Conference was held in Dong 'e, Shandong Province on November 23."Donkey treatment" has once again become a hot topic among donkey practitioners in Shandong, Henan, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and other places. They once again called for the same treatment for donkeys as pigs, cattle and sheep.

At the beginning of 2015, at the "two sessions" of Shandong Province, Qin Yufeng, deputy of the Provincial People's Congress, wrote a "Proposal on Expanding the Scope of Grass and Livestock from Cattle and Sheep to Donkeys," which was praised as "Donkey Proposal" by the media and became the focus of public opinion. For donkey and cattle and sheep equal treatment, for a time became the common wish of donkey farmers, donkey product enterprises, relevant animal husbandry experts and scholars all over the country.

At the first China Donkey Industry Development Conference held in Dong 'e, Shandong Province, representatives of donkey meat production enterprises, donkey milk processing enterprises and donkey-hide gelatin production enterprises jointly said that the shortage of donkeys had caused the price increase of donkey raw materials across the board, and consumers complained about it. Representatives attending the China Donkey Industry Development Conference called for improving the "donkey treatment" and increasing the number of upstream donkey breeding in order to fundamentally break through the bottleneck of the industry.

Coincidentally, Qin Yufeng, who put forward the "donkey motion" at the People's Congress of Shandong Province at the beginning of the year, was elected as the first president of the donkey industry branch of China Animal Husbandry Association by a high vote on the 22nd. Less than a year later, this NPC deputy who fought for donkey treatment was crowned as the national "donkey king" by his peers. Qin Yufeng stated to his colleagues in the donkey industry at the election site that the biggest goal during his term of office is the overall rapid development of the donkey industry. He will make unremitting efforts to win the same state breeding subsidy treatment as pigs, cattle and sheep for donkeys, push the government to pay more attention to donkey breeding, and create a replicable and efficient donkey breeding model.

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Chifeng City Aohan Banner flag long in Baojun, once on June 16 this year in the national modern animal husbandry construction work conference told Zhongxin net reporter, to grass livestock breeding as the main business of Aohan Banner mainly has six varieties of breeding industry, cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens and other industries now have clear policy support, donkeys, geese and so on have no clear national policy support. If the state gives preferential policies, the donkey industry will certainly develop and become a real rich industry.

"From the proposal of 'donkey proposal' of Shandong two sessions at the beginning of 2015 to the establishment of donkey industry branch of China Animal Husbandry Association in November, donkey has been continuously advancing on the road of winning equal status with cattle and sheep." He Xintian, vice president of the China Animal Husbandry Association, said that developing herbivorous animal husbandry is one of the main strategies for China to adjust its agricultural structure. Cattle, sheep and donkeys are herbivorous animal husbandry. Donkey farming is still in its infancy, and the stock is still declining at an annual rate of 3.5%. The market demand for donkey products has increased sharply with the arrival of the era of great health, and demand exceeds supply. Under these two situations, the establishment of donkey industry branch plays an important role in expanding donkey breeding scale, strengthening epidemic prevention and control, accelerating the integration of three industries and reversing the transformation and upgrading of donkey industry.

Although the state has not yet issued a unified subsidy policy, some local governments in Shandong, Hebei, Inner Mongolia and other places have taken the lead in issuing local policies to support donkey breeding. The reporter learned through interviews that relevant departments of Shandong Province are currently formulating the province's "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" development plan, which will vigorously support aquaculture. Among them, Shandong Province plans to reach 40 billion yuan of total output value of donkey breeding industry in Shandong Province by 2020, with 1 million basic female donkeys, 18000 family farms with 5-50 female donkeys and 4000 large-scale farms. It plans to arrange funds to support key industrial links such as basic female donkey group expansion subsidy, fine breed farm construction, frozen sperm subsidy, 5-50 basic female donkey family farms, large-scale farms, donkey breeding cooperatives, straw donkey breeding, etc.

Mang Lai, vice president of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, said that local policies were ultimately inadequate, expecting the newly established donkey industry association to exert its group strength and calling on relevant national policies to be issued.

From the "donkey proposal" initially proposed by Shandong "two sessions" to the sound of "donkey treatment" at the National Conference on Modern Animal Husbandry Construction on June 16, and to the common voice of the whole industry at today's National Donkey Industry Development Conference, China's donkey industry has fully awakened and won the attention of people inside and outside the industry and the government. Many experts attending the National Donkey Industry Development Conference predicted that the national policy of "equal treatment" with cattle and sheep is now ready.