Total output value of the livestock industry exceeds 2.9 trillion yuan; per capita meat availability rises steadily

Economic Daily, Beijing, June 14 (Reporter Qiao Jinliang): The latest data from the Ministry of Agriculture show that in 2014, the national total output value of the livestock industry exceeded 2.9 trillion yuan, per capita meat availability reached 64 kg, income directly from livestock and poultry farming accounted for one-sixth of cash income from household agricultural operations, and there were 583 national-level leading livestock enterprises, accounting for 47%.

In ensuring the supply of livestock and poultry, following the approach of “stabilizing pigs, safeguarding poultry, and promoting cattle and sheep,” the national livestock industry focused on improving comprehensive production capacity. During the “12th Five-Year Plan” period, the central government invested a cumulative 14.9 billion yuan to support the upgrading of infrastructure at nearly 38,000 large-scale breeding farms and households. Since 2010, the state has launched standardized livestock and poultry breeding demonstration creation activities. Today, standardized large-scale livestock and poultry breeding has become the main force in ensuring the supply of livestock products. In 2014, the proportions of large-scale breeding for pigs, laying hens, and dairy cows nationwide reached 42%, 69%, and 45%, respectively.

Breakthroughs have been made in scientific and technological innovation in livestock and poultry breeding. In recent years, the state has successively issued and implemented genetic improvement plans for pigs, dairy cows, beef cattle, and mutton sheep, a fine breed breeding system has taken initial shape, and the capacity for selective breeding and seed supply has improved significantly. Since the “12th Five-Year Plan,” a total of 39 new livestock and poultry varieties and synthetic lines have been bred nationwide, among which independently bred laying hen synthetic lines have already accounted for more than 40% of the national market share. At the same time, the pace of industrialized operation has accelerated. The integrated development of livestock and poultry industry “production, processing, and sales” has been accelerated, forming a large number of production and operation models with shared interests, such as “enterprise + farmers” and “enterprise + cooperatives.”

In ensuring food safety, the Ministry of Agriculture organized demonstration creation for the “Feed Quality and Safety Management Standards,” improved the feed quality and safety monitoring plan, and noticeably improved the small, disorderly, and poor conditions of feed enterprises. At present, all 11,000 milk stations and 7,000 transport vehicles nationwide have been brought under supervision, with 100% operating with licenses. All milk stations are run by three types of lawful entities, and the mechanized milking rate has reached 90%, an increase of 39 percentage points over 2008.

In ensuring grassland ecology, monitoring shows that the overloading rate of livestock on key natural grasslands nationwide dropped from 30% in 2010 to 15.2% in 2014. A total of 3.84 billion mu of grassland nationwide has been allowed to recuperate through grazing bans and enclosure for restoration and grass-livestock balance management, and the ecological environment has continued to improve. In 2014, the comprehensive vegetation coverage of grasslands nationwide reached 53.6%, an increase of 2.6 percentage points over 2010; fresh grass output was 1.02 billion tons, an increase of 4.7% over 2010. The grassland subsidy and reward policy provides 13.93 billion yuan in direct subsidies to herders each year, and combined with the high prices of beef and mutton in recent years, herders' production income has continued to increase.