The Development Direction of Pig Industry in China: From "Pig Country" to "Pig Country"

China is the largest pig-raising country in the world, with nearly half of the world's pig stock, production and pork production. In spite of this, China can only be called a "big pig-raising country", not a "pig-raising power".

Why is that? Let's take a look at this series of figures. In 2010, China produced 79.258 million tons of meat, including 50.712 million tons of pork. China produced 666.864 million pigs in 2010. Whether it is the number of columns or the number of columns, China ranks first in the world. The same is true of pork production, ranking first in the world. China's status as a big pork consumer is also unrivalled. However, China has few pork exports and low production efficiency, with an average of 16 to 17 fattening pigs per sow per year; feed conversion rate 3.6 ∶ 3.8 per sow, with a fencing rate of 142 per cent. These indicators are on the low side and have become the weakness of China's pig industry.

To overcome the weakness and develop from a "big pig-raising country" to a "powerful pig-raising country" is the inevitable direction of China's pig industry. How does it develop? First of all, we need someone to learn from. So which countries can be called "pig-raising powers"? How do they manage the pig industry?

Denmark produced about 1.6 million tons of pork in 2009, 90% of which was exported (the European Union and Japan, the United States, China, etc.), making it the world's largest pork exporter. As a small country in northern Europe, Denmark's pork production is not as good as that of China, but it is a well-deserved "pig-raising power".

As a "pig-raising power", what are the advantages of Denmark?

1. Pig raising is high-tech and pig raising equipment is automatic. Danish pig industry is recognized as a "high-tech industry" in the world. Genetic biotechnology and computer automatic control system have been widely used in pig industry. Pig herd disease control, feeding management, genetics and breeding and other breeding management technology leading the world. At the same time, Denmark is also the best country in the world to ban the use of antibiotic feed additives for animals. At present, Denmark can provide an average of 26 to 33 fattening pigs per sow per year, with a feed conversion rate of 2.4 ∶ 2.8 per sow and a fencing rate of 168%. The above three indicators are much higher than those in China. Denmark is famous for its specialization, mechanization, scale and high efficiency, especially its labor productivity is among the highest in the world. In Denmark, raising 10,000 pigs requires an average of only three workers.

2. Raise "green pigs" and pay attention to the quality of pork. Denmark's feeding, slaughtering, pork products processing are in strict compliance with the relevant regulations. The quality of pork and meat products in Denmark has reached the highest hygienic standard in the world, and the income of its pig industry is relatively stable. By contrast, pork prices in China go up and down.

From the above comparison, it is not difficult to see that China still has a long way to go in the development of animal husbandry. In order to narrow the gap with Denmark and other "pig-raising powers" and move from a "big pig-raising country" to a strong pig-raising country, we must proceed from the following aspects:

1. Increase the large-scale development of pig raising, improve the scientific and technological content of the pig industry, and adopt advanced management technology and advanced automation equipment to achieve scientific feeding.

2. Improve the feeding mode, optimize the feeding environment, reduce the occurrence of pig diseases, and raise a real "green pig".

3. Strengthen the supervision and management system of the relevant departments, check the pig feeding, slaughtering and pork processing layer by layer, and have strict requirements on the quality of pork.