Animal Disease Eradication Opens a New Era for Animal Health

Recently, some executives of breeding livestock and poultry enterprises have been very pleased: in the first batch of animal disease eradication farms announced by the China Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center, 2 enterprises received the title of “Avian Leukosis Eradication Demonstration Farm,” 4 enterprises received the title of “Swine Pseudorabies Eradication Demonstration Farm,” and 31 enterprises received the title of “Animal Disease Eradication Development Farm.”

Chen Weisheng, Director of the China Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center, said: “Since 2013, our center has organized and implemented the 'Technology Integration and Demonstration Project for the Eradication of Major Animal Diseases and Harmless Discharge in Large-Scale Farms.' After more than two years of research and practice, we have initially built a working framework for promoting the eradication of diseases in large-scale farms, relying on demonstration projects, with farming enterprises as the main body, animal disease control institutions as support, and an eradication expert database as a resource, with multiple parties working together to jointly advance the effort.”

Disease Eradication: Farming Enterprises Are the Main Players

Speaking of the disease eradication process, Liu Changqing, Vice President and Chief Veterinary Officer of Beijing Huadu Yukou Poultry, considers it a difficult but necessary path. Yukou Poultry has 40,000 pure-line chickens, and 180,000 samples need to be tested each year. To avoid affecting normal production and flock quality, each testing round requires more than 30 professional staff to operate precisely, and sometimes more than 100 people must work together to complete it. In addition to large-scale testing, the company also invites experts from disease control institutions and other relevant organizations each year for on-site guidance and telephone exchanges, and has established an exchange mechanism with experts from the University of Georgia in the United States, investing more than 5 million yuan in avian leukosis eradication work. In 2014, when the China Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center launched the animal disease eradication development and demonstration activity, Yukou Poultry actively applied at the first opportunity and successfully passed the expert group's on-site assessment and laboratory testing.

Wei Xiaoming, Chairman of Ningxia Xiaoming Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Co., Ltd., told reporters that as a breeding poultry enterprise integrating introduction, breeding, and promotion, since Xiaoming Company further implemented animal disease eradication work in 2010, each chicken has laid an average of 8 more eggs, and the company has continued to be profitable. The demonstration development activity has played a very obvious role in expanding the company's brand effect. In 2014, sales revenue increased by 69.65% compared with the same period of the previous year, and net profit increased by 137.81%, further enhancing market development efforts and customer loyalty.

Demonstration Development Drives Enterprise Eradication

For ordinary enterprises, the huge investment of funds and constraints on technical capability prevent many enterprises from making up their minds to carry out eradication. In order to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of farming enterprises, since 2013 the Animal Disease Control Center has organized and implemented the 'Technology Integration and Demonstration Project for the Eradication of Major Animal Diseases and Harmless Discharge in Large-Scale Farms,' giving enterprises more support through work promotion and technical guidance.

In order to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of farming enterprises to carry out disease eradication and give play to the main role of farmers, the Animal Disease Control Center organized animal disease eradication demonstration development activities. Through voluntary application and expert assessment, farms that meet the conditions, are willing, and are carrying out eradication are awarded the “Eradication Development Farm” plaque to encourage their active participation in eradication; farms that meet the eradication standards for specific diseases are awarded the “Eradication Demonstration Farm” plaque to affirm their results and achievements. In the first batch of development and demonstration activities, 37 farms stood out from 280 farms in 22 provinces.

Wu Shaoqin, Deputy General Manager of the Liangqi Original Breeding Pig Farm of Guangxi State Farms Yongxin Animal Husbandry Group Co., Ltd., believes that the launch of the animal disease eradication demonstration development activity has allowed the enterprise's achievements to be recognized by national institutions, promoted the formation of enterprise credibility and branding, gained recognition from downstream farming enterprises, and enhanced public consumer confidence. Since carrying out eradication, the enterprise has achieved considerable benefits. At present, it markets 250,000 pigs annually, including nearly 40,000 pigs exported to Hong Kong, China each year, accounting for more than 85% of Guangxi's live pigs supplied to Hong Kong, China. It is Guangxi's largest live pig supply base for Hong Kong, China and has also become the designated pork supply base for the 45th World Gymnastics Championships.

The animal disease eradication demonstration development activity has created conditions for establishing market access and made the farming industry more standardized. Through assessment and certification by authoritative departments, a fair and reasonable evaluation of the disease situation of farming enterprises can be made, enhancing enterprises' ability to withstand market risks, legal risks, and policy risks, and avoiding the risk of an entire region or industry being affected by the occurrence of a certain disease.

Now, the Animal Disease Control Center has gradually formed an overall working approach to eradication that starts from the farm, combines farm and region, proceeds from easy to difficult, implements in layers, promotes technology, applies comprehensively, and uses demonstration leadership and development promotion. In the early stage of project implementation, the Animal Disease Control Center organized experts to go deep into 9 provinces and more than 20 farming enterprises, summarize the experiences and practices of eradication work in various places, and understand the difficulties and needs of farming enterprises in eradication. Yang Lin, Director of the Epidemic Monitoring Division of the Animal Disease Control Center, said: “Through more than two years of eradication practice, we have deeply felt the enormous social demand and the unlimited creativity at the grassroots level, which has also inspired our determination and confidence to promote eradication.”

Policy Innovation Integrates Resources from Multiple Parties

Through more than two years of effort, animal disease eradication work has shown an encouraging situation across the country. More and more farming enterprises hope to join the ranks of eradication and jointly explore disease prevention and control models of “fewer injections and reduced burden” and “healthy farming.” How to maintain good momentum and let more farming enterprises join the eradication team? Chen Weisheng believes that for more enterprises to make up their minds to participate in eradication, policy guidance and innovation are still needed. On the one hand, financial support should be provided. It is suggested to establish a national special reward fund for animal disease eradication, implement a model of building first and rewarding later and using rewards instead of subsidies, and provide graded rewards to farms or regions that meet eradication standards according to the number and types of diseases eradicated, directly linking disease eradication status with reward standards to guide enterprises and local governments to carry out eradication on their own initiative. On the other hand, based on institutional development, establish a system combined with existing fiscal subsidies, integrating disease eradication with policies such as standardization construction subsidies, harmless treatment subsidies, improved breed subsidies, and immunization subsidies; establish a market access system, with disease eradication results as a necessary condition for breeding livestock and poultry farm business licenses and regional circulation of live livestock and poultry. Through institutional innovation, guide and promote farming enterprises to carry out eradication on their own initiative. At the same time, by establishing a national eradication expert committee and building collaborative eradication laboratories, mobilize resources from multiple parties to provide socialized services for eradication and jointly promote eradication.