How can the subsidy policy for harmless disposal be improved?

At present, relevant state policies stipulate that for dead pigs subjected to harmless disposal at large-scale pig farms with an annual slaughter volume of 50 head or more, a harmless disposal subsidy of 80 yuan per head is granted; for designated pig slaughterhouses, a harmless disposal subsidy of 80 yuan per head and 800 yuan in loss compensation are granted. This is a beneficial policy for the people, intended to better promote the harmless disposal of dead animals. However, trainees in the rotating training class for directors of agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries bureaus said that the current subsidy for the harmless disposal of diseased pigs has not played its due role, and the main problems are as follows:

First, under the current high-pressure situation for food safety, there are still cases of arbitrarily dumping and discarding dead livestock and poultry, and even selling them at low prices, creating major hidden dangers to animal health safety and people's health. Second, harmless disposal is not standardized; 95% of farms and households nationwide cannot meet environmental protection requirements in harmless disposal, and the disposal effect that harmless treatment should have cannot be achieved. Third, acts of fraudulently obtaining state subsidies emerge endlessly, especially in the slaughtering stage, causing serious losses to state property.

The trainees pointed out that the main reasons for these phenomena are:

First, the compensation mechanism is incomplete. At present, the state has issued compensation provisions and standards only for the harmless disposal of dead animals at pig farms with 50 head or more and designated pig slaughterhouses, but has not covered subsidies for other animals or pigs raised in scattered households, nor are there compensation provisions for the harmless disposal of dead animals in the animal transport and market trading stages. Second, the linkage between livestock and poultry breeding and insurance is incomplete. Liu Feng, deputy director of the Animal Husbandry Bureau of the Agricultural Committee of Jingjiang City, Jiangsu Province, said that currently only sows that can reproduce and strong pigs of 15 kg or more, as well as some large-scale livestock and poultry farms, participate in agricultural policy insurance, and there is no corresponding insurance compensation for the harmless disposal of dead animals. In order to

reduce losses, farms and households resort to arbitrarily abandoning or selling dead animals. Third, the cost of harmless disposal is high, and government subsidies are insufficient. According to the comprehensive situation reported by various counties at present, the cost of disposing of one 50 kg dead pig is about 300 yuan to 600 yuan, while the price for handing it over to a waste treatment station for treatment is about 4 yuan per kg. Fourth, subsidies in the slaughtering stage are unreasonable. The trainees said that if pigs purchased by slaughterhouses undergo origin quarantine and clinical inspection in accordance with regulations and are transported according to standards, deaths will basically not occur, so why are so many dead pigs declared nationwide every year? In addition, 90 kg of waste is compensated as 1 pig, while there is no definition of such waste, so it is extremely common for "small-knife operators" to collect scraps or waste at low prices in the market to fraudulently obtain 800 yuan in loss compensation.

So, how can harmless disposal subsidies be effectively used?

Chen Yuwen, deputy director of the Agriculture Bureau of Luhe District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, suggested: "Harmless disposal subsidies should adhere to the principle of 'whoever handles it gets the subsidy.' Any person or company, as long as they carry out harmless disposal of dead animals and meet environmental protection requirements, can obtain the harmless disposal subsidy. At the same time, it is suggested that, without changing the fiscal appropriation of the previous three years, the 800 yuan subsidy in the slaughtering stage can be reasonably allocated: no more than 30% of the subsidy should be given to brokers, and the remaining 70% should be given to the person (factory) carrying out harmless disposal, so as to ensure that harmless disposal truly meets environmental protection standards."

Wang Jufeng, director of the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau of Yongnian County, Hebei Province, believes that the state should also increase the subsidy system for livestock and poultry insurance and link livestock and poultry insurance with harmless disposal. Judging from the situation of pigs participating in insurance, the number of dead pigs subjected to harmless disposal has increased significantly. Therefore, he believes that government subsidies for insurance should be increased in intensity and scope to reduce the losses of farmers and households, thereby strengthening the control of the agriculture and animal husbandry departments over dead livestock and poultry.