Harmless disposal of dead and diseased livestock and poultry must be basically achieved

On November 25, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Finance, and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission jointly held a teleconference on implementing the Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Establishing a Harmless Disposal Mechanism for Dead and Diseased Livestock and Poultry, to comprehensively deploy the work related to building a harmless disposal mechanism for dead and diseased livestock and poultry.

Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu emphasized that establishing a harmless disposal mechanism for dead and diseased livestock and poultry is an urgent need for advancing ecological civilization, an urgent need for ensuring “safety on the tip of the tongue”, and an urgent need for promoting the healthy development of the livestock industry. He required that all regions and relevant departments increase their work efforts, fully advance the building of a harmless disposal mechanism for dead and diseased livestock and poultry, strive to ensure that dead and diseased livestock and poultry basically achieve harmless disposal, and fundamentally solve the problem of arbitrarily discarding dead and diseased livestock and poultry, and even dead and diseased livestock and poultry products flowing onto the dining table. First, strengthen leadership and implement relevant responsibilities. Treat the building of a harmless disposal mechanism for dead and diseased livestock and poultry as a major and important matter, and incorporate it into government performance management assessment indicators. Local governments are responsible for their territory and must truly shoulder management responsibilities. It is necessary to promptly establish an inter-departmental linkage mechanism, improve the responsibility system and accountability system, and further ensure that the responsibilities of local governments, relevant departments, and breeding operators are fully implemented. Second, strengthen planning and improve the disposal system. Plan scientifically and coordinate layout; for major pig-producing counties and major poultry-breeding counties with an annual feeding volume of more than 50 million birds, in principle each county must establish a professional harmless disposal site. All large-scale breeding farms and households must be incorporated into the harmless disposal system through self-built facilities or entrusted disposal. Third, strengthen investment and ensure policy implementation. Based on local realities, further refine and substantiate policy measures and promote policy implementation. Promote the transformation and upgrading of the livestock and poultry breeding industry, and continuously improve the level of standardized and large-scale breeding. Fourth, strengthen publicity and create a good atmosphere. Organize publicity, education, and training work as soon as possible, proactively deliver policies to the doorstep, and ensure that production and business operators know all they should know. Fifth, strengthen law enforcement and crack down on illegal and criminal activities. Increase law enforcement efforts, maintain a high-pressure posture, and strike hard and apply severe penalties. Improve the system for sharing information on illegal cases, reporting case circumstances, and transferring cases, and achieve effective connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice.

Fan Hengshan, Deputy Secretary-General of the National Development and Reform Commission, emphasized that all localities should fully leverage the supporting role of the animal epidemic prevention system and effectively carry out all work in animal disease prevention and control and harmless disposal of dead and diseased livestock and poultry; they should implement the statutory responsibilities of units such as livestock and poultry breeding and slaughtering and processing, and vigorously promote the construction of harmless disposal facilities for dead and diseased livestock and poultry. Local development and reform departments at all levels should proactively cooperate with agriculture and other departments, fully perform their duties, properly compile plans for building a system for the harmless collection and disposal of dead and diseased livestock and poultry, and formulate charging policies for the harmless collection and disposal of dead and diseased livestock and poultry by category.

⟦NL> Wang Jian, member of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Public Security and Assistant Minister, required that public security organs in all localities fully leverage their functional role, always maintain a high-pressure and strict crackdown posture, and severely crack down on illegal and criminal acts such as processing and selling dead and diseased livestock and poultry products. They should vigorously investigate clues and actively mobilize the public to report; strengthen supervision of case handling to ensure cases are investigated and handled thoroughly and promptly concluded; and carry out publicity and reporting at appropriate times to forcefully deter illegal and criminal activities. It is necessary to strengthen departmental collaboration and coordination and deeply advance source governance of illegal and criminal activities involving dead and diseased livestock and poultry.

Dai Bohua, member of the Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Finance and Assistant Minister, pointed out that local finance departments should effectively perform their duties and ensure that fiscal subsidy funds for the harmless disposal of dead and diseased livestock and poultry are fully implemented. They should work with agriculture and other departments to carefully study effective measures and include harmless disposal facilities and equipment in the scope of agricultural machinery purchase subsidies. It is necessary to effectively strengthen supervision of fiscal support funds for the harmless disposal of dead and diseased livestock and poultry, promptly track the dynamics of harmless disposal of dead and diseased livestock and poultry, carefully review relevant basic data, and promptly allocate fiscal subsidy funds.

Zhou Yanli, Vice Chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, pointed out that at present the insurance industry's capacity to support the harmless disposal of dead and diseased livestock and poultry has been continuously strengthened, and a linkage mechanism between insurance and harmless disposal has initially been established, achieving good results. He required that all insurance regulatory bureaus and insurance institutions proactively communicate with governments at all levels as well as finance, animal husbandry and veterinary departments, improve system and process design, enhance insurance service capacity, strengthen supervision of insurance services for the harmless disposal of dead and diseased livestock and poultry, and ensure that all systems are implemented.