China's livestock industry development enters the fast lane as the era of meat, egg and milk shortages comes to an end

From “eating meat only on holidays” to a 7-fold increase in per capita meat availability, from less than 15% of total agricultural output value to “one of three pillars,” from a rural household sideline to an important national industry, China's livestock industry has entered the fast lane of development.

Farewell to the era of meat, egg and milk shortages

“The livestock industry is an important pillar industry of the agricultural and rural economy, and also a major industry for ensuring supply, benefiting people's livelihoods and promoting stability. Since the reform and opening up, China's livestock industry development has entered the fast lane and completely reversed the situation of meat, egg and milk shortages.” said Han Changfu, Minister of Agriculture, at the National Conference on Modern Livestock Industry Development.

In 2014, national meat production was 8,707 tons, an increase of 9.2 times over 1978, and per capita meat availability increased from less than 9 kg to nearly 64 kg. The development of the livestock industry has made important contributions to improving residents' dietary nutrition and safeguarding national food security.

In addition, the great development of the livestock industry has opened up new channels for farmers' employment and income growth. Data from the Ministry of Agriculture show that in 1978 China's livestock industry output value was only 20.9 billion yuan, accounting for 15% of total agricultural output value; in 2014, livestock industry output value exceeded 2.9 trillion yuan, accounting for about one third of total agricultural output value. At present, income directly from livestock and poultry breeding accounts for one sixth of household agricultural operating cash income, and related industries such as feed and livestock product processing have absorbed a large amount of rural labor.

“The livestock industry has developed from a household sideline into a major industry. With the arrival of agricultural modernization, China's livestock industry will enter a new stage of modernization.” said Han Changfu.

Facing industry challenges head-on

Despite considerable progress, constrained by many factors, China's livestock industry is currently facing four major challenges: prominent supply-demand contradictions, declining breeding returns, extensive development levels, and highlighted ecological pressure.

With population growth, rising income levels and advancing urbanization, China's demand for meat, eggs and milk is showing rigid growth. According to estimates, China's per capita daily animal protein intake is 33 grams, which, although exceeding the world average, is far below the level of developed countries, and per capita milk availability is less than one third of the world average. At present, China consumes 230 million kg of meat, 80 million kg of poultry eggs and 100 million kg of milk every day. On the one hand, consumer demand for beef and mutton is rising rapidly; on the other hand, production capacity is insufficient, and the supply-demand contradiction remains prominent.

Li Shouyuan, a senior livestock engineer at the Shandong Provincial Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau, said that the livestock industry is the main channel for employment and income growth for the vast number of herders, but in recent years, affected by rising production costs, declining comparative benefits, and increasing disease and market risks, income from livestock and poultry breeding has become more volatile. Since 2009, China's breeding costs have increased by nearly 40%, and many breeders have increased production without increasing income. Accelerating the construction of modern livestock industry and improving the quality and efficiency of livestock industry development brooks no delay.

In addition, China's livestock industry development level remains extensive, and the ecological and environmental pressure in pastoral areas is increasingly prominent. With the rapid development of the livestock industry, some areas have shown a trend of worsening pollution and ecological deterioration. In some agricultural areas, manure is discharged at will, causing non-point source pollution; in some pastoral areas, overgrazing has led to grassland degradation, desertification and alkalinization. The ecological bottleneck constraints on the livestock and poultry breeding industry are increasingly tightening.

Advancing the modern transformation of the livestock industry

Han Changfu said that in order to accelerate and strengthen the construction of livestock industry production capacity, China will “make the improved breed breeding system bigger and stronger, and gradually reduce dependence on imported breeding livestock and poultry. Efforts should be made to transform the extensive livestock and poultry breeding methods and to promote and popularize advanced and applicable feeding and management techniques. In the future, we should strive to achieve major breakthroughs in independent innovation in livestock and poultry seed industry, standardized feeding and management, transformation and utilization of forage resources, and animal disease prevention and control.”

China will also accelerate the development of large-scale breeding, advance industrialized development, strengthen standardized production and quality and safety supervision, and ensure the quality and safety of livestock products. It is necessary to adhere to combining production and management, governance at the source, implement the main responsibility for livestock product quality and safety, improve the quality and safety traceability system, and realize storable production records, traceable product flows, and queryable storage and transportation information.

According to the deployment of the Ministry of Agriculture, China will also do a good job in the prevention and control of major animal diseases and the treatment and utilization of livestock and poultry breeding manure, do well in basic work such as animal disease monitoring, epidemiological investigation and compulsory immunization, adhere to the scientific layout of livestock and poultry breeding, and vigorously promote circular agriculture combining planting and breeding.