Ministry of Agriculture issues guidance to accelerate the development of herbivorous livestock farming

This website reports  Developing herbivorous animal husbandry is an important focal point for accelerating the “transformation of development mode and structural adjustment” of agriculture. Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Accelerated Development of Herbivorous Animal Husbandry” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”), which clarified the thinking, goals and main tasks for the development of herbivorous animal husbandry in the period ahead. The “Opinions” proposed that by 2020, China’s total output of beef and mutton shall reach more than 13 million tons, and total milk output shall reach more than 41 million tons.

The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the development of herbivorous animal husbandry, and have successively introduced a series of policy measures covering key links such as improved breed breeding, breed improvement, large-scale farming, expansion of female livestock breeding, and development and utilization of forage and feed, constantly increasing support for herbivorous animal husbandry. In recent years, China’s herbivorous animal husbandry has shown a good momentum of accelerated development, comprehensive production capacity has continued to improve, standardized large-scale farming has advanced steadily, and the market supply of herbivorous livestock products such as beef, mutton and dairy products has been effectively guaranteed. In 2014, the national beef output was 6.89 million tons, mutton output was 4.28 million tons, and milk output was 37.25 million tons, increasing by 2.4%, 4.9% and 5.5% year on year respectively.

The “Opinions” made clear that in the period ahead, the development of China’s herbivorous animal husbandry shall focus on beef cattle, mutton sheep and dairy cows, take the transformation of the development mode as the main line, take improving industrial efficiency and quality as the core, adhere to the combination of planting and breeding, optimize regional layout, increase policy support, strengthen scientific and technological support, promote the sustainable and intensive development of herbivorous animal husbandry, continuously improve the comprehensive production capacity and market competitiveness of herbivorous animal husbandry, and effectively guarantee the effective market supply of livestock products.

Next, the Ministry of Agriculture and local animal husbandry and veterinary departments at all levels will take the implementation of the “Opinions” as a starting point, effectively increase policy support, strengthen scientific and technological support, adopt more powerful measures, and promote the accelerated transformation and upgrading of herbivorous animal husbandry. They will focus on the following four aspects of work.

First, optimize the planting and breeding structure. Taking the four main production areas of grassland pastoral areas, agro-pastoral transition zones, traditional agricultural areas, and southern grassy mountain and slope areas as the main direction, improve the farming model combining agriculture and animal husbandry, establish a forage and feed production system with efficient resource utilization, and actively develop the production of herbivorous livestock and poultry.

Second, transform the development mode. Vigorously develop standardized large-scale farming of cattle and sheep, accelerate the construction of the herbivorous livestock and poultry seed industry, promote the integrated process of grass seed conservation, expansion and promotion, support the development of large specialized households, family pastures and specialized cooperative organizations, guide the development of industrialized leading enterprises, improve the level of material equipment, and strengthen the resource utilization of waste.

Third, enhance support capacity. Strengthen financial and insurance support, establish diversified investment and financing mechanisms, strengthen support services for scientific and technological talent, promote advanced and practical technologies, and increase efforts in disease prevention and control. Create a favorable market environment and explore the integrated development path of planting, breeding and processing. Coordinate the use of two markets and two types of resources, and gradually realize the diversification of import markets.

Fourth, increase policy support. Implement policies such as the construction of standardized large-scale farms for beef cattle, mutton sheep and dairy cows, subsidies for improved breeds, expansion of the herd of basic cows, rewards for major counties transferring out cattle and sheep, pilot experiments for the development of grass and animal husbandry, and pilot projects for converting grain to feed, further strengthen project supervision, and provide strong policy support for the development of herbivorous animal husbandry.