Chicken becomes China's second-largest meat consumer product

Over the past 20 years, China's chicken production has continued to grow at an average annual rate of 5% to 6%, and chicken has become the second-largest meat consumer product after pork, with white-feathered chicken accounting for 13.11%, and a national per capita consumption of 9 kg in 2014.

The reporter learned at the "Green Development Path of China's Broiler Industry——Yantai White-Feathered Broiler Phenomenon Symposium" held in Beijing on the 12th that the white-feathered broiler is the largest consumed meat in developed countries, with per capita consumption in the United States at 43.67 kg, accounting for 52% of its total meat consumption, 49% in the United Kingdom, and 34.5% in Japan. By comparison, China still has relatively large market potential.

Ma Youxiang, Director of the Animal Husbandry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, said that the development of the white-feathered broiler industry represented by Yantai reflects the elements and direction of green livestock and poultry farming development, namely large-scale, green farming, full-industry-chain development from breeds and feed to processing, and a development mechanism of companies plus farmers. At present, the farming industry faces the problem of "drifting further apart" from both farmers and agriculture, that is, how to solve the problems of increasing farmers' income and circular planting and breeding through the development of the farming industry. The Yantai model is worth learning from.

Data shows that in 2014, Yantai's marketed broilers reached 230 million birds, and more than 7,100 broiler farms all implemented standardized large-scale farming; 470,000 sets of grandparent broiler breeders were kept, accounting for 34% of the national total; more than 90% of broiler farming used manure stacking and fermentation technology, and the harmless treatment rate of manure and the resource utilization rate reached more than 98%. There are 4 large white-feathered broiler listed companies nationwide, of which Yantai accounts for 3.

"In the next step of China's broiler industry development, the issue of breeds deserves attention. At present, white-feathered broilers are still 100% foreign breeds, which is not conducive to seed industry security. In the future, efforts should be made in the development of livestock and poultry seed industries. While relying on enterprises, support will also be given to seed industry development." Ma Youxiang said.