Where exactly does the dilemma in pig breeding lie?

"Joint pig breeding has been carried out in China for more than 20 years, but the results have not been significant. I would like to ask the experts present here, do you have confidence in China's breeding pig breeding? Can we still cultivate our own breeds?" At the recent 2016 (First) International Pig Industry Development Forum, when discussing the issue of joint pig breeding, Wang Lixian, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, as the moderator of the forum, raised this question to the experts present.

Conflicts of interest become a stumbling block to joint breeding

China is one of the countries with the richest pig breed resources in the world, with nearly 50 national-level and provincial-level local protected breeds. In addition to lean-type pig breeds introduced from abroad, many breeds have also been cultivated in various places over the past decades, and in recent years many domestic and foreign crossbred composite lines have also emerged. Such abundant genetic resources have laid a very good foundation for China's breeding work. Theoretically speaking, as long as the market needs a certain type of breeding pig, we should be able to cultivate that type of breeding pig. However, the fact is not so. At present, in China's consumer market, about 95% of pork still comes from the introduced "Duroc, Landrace, and Large White."

The question raised by Wang Lixian made Fu Yan, a professor at the College of Animal Sciences of Zhejiang University, a little embarrassed. "This question is very difficult to answer. In the 1980s, pig breeding in China received attention. Many professors returned from abroad and wanted to devote themselves to this cause. At that time, China's basic situation was that there were many pig farms, small in scale, and there were several thousand breeding pig enterprises, but very few were truly doing breeding. Under such circumstances, people placed their hopes on joint breeding." Joint breeding requires a large amount of performance testing, has very high requirements for the farm environment, and there must also be genetic connections between breeding pig farms. For so many years, China's joint breeding has not been successful. "I am also one of the initiators of joint breeding, but I do not have much confidence in joint breeding. However, I am full of confidence in China's pig breeding." Fu Yan explained that half of the world's live pigs are in China, and more than half of the world's pork consumption is also in China. Now, China's large breeding pig enterprises are constantly merging some small enterprises, growing larger and larger in scale, and beginning to truly do breeding work. As long as enterprises put their hearts into doing it, pig breeding will certainly succeed.

Wang Lixian is also a breeding expert and has gone to pig farms many times for technical guidance. He introduced that at present many large enterprises have begun to realize the importance of breeding, and have also gained a certain foundation in breeding work, but joint breeding requires them to share resources and technology and jointly breed pig varieties with excellent meat quality and growth speed. China's current situation is that there are many breeding pig enterprises, and competition among them is extremely fierce. Whether in the construction environment of breeding pig farms, the quality of original breeding pigs, technical strength, breeding level, management level, or operating systems, there are relatively large deviations, making it very difficult to achieve true communication and exchange of information. Therefore, "China's breeding pig enterprises can first do breeding on their own, and then join together when common interests become prominent."

Interest needs are higher than breeding needs, and the promotion of local pigs is hindered

In pig breeding work, in addition to cultivating commercial pig breeds that are in great demand in the market, the conservation and promotion and utilization of local pigs are also worthy of attention.

Today, the problem of whether there is meat to eat has basically been solved, and the problem of whether there is good meat to eat is becoming more and more prominent. Some local pig genetic resources have already disappeared, and quite a number remain only in resource farms preserving small populations. These disappeared pig genetic resources were not without distinctive characteristics, but in terms of growth speed and lean meat percentage, their competitiveness was insufficient compared with foreign breeding pigs, so their populations gradually shrank, and the difficulties faced by conservation farms also increased.

Guangxi Yangxiang Co., Ltd. is an enterprise that places great importance on local pigs, but in the past two years the conservation work for local pigs has not gone smoothly. In response to the question raised by Wang Lixian, Chen Qingsen, breeding director of Yangxiang Company, introduced the company's progress in local pig conservation in recent years. "The advantages of local pigs in South China are relatively obvious, and many people recognize them. The local pigs conserved by the company once reached a scale of 8,000 head. Unfortunately, in the past two years pig prices were sluggish, and conservation also required a large amount of funds. For the sake of the company's production, we had to dispose of these pigs. Now, only a core group of a few hundred head is retained."

Having struggled in the breeding industry for many years, Chen Qingsen sees breeding work very clearly. "There are two kinds of work in society that everyone dislikes doing. One is work that requires collecting a large amount of accurate data, and the other is work that shows no results for a long time. Breeding work happens to combine these two characteristics." In addition, "breeding work also requires a relatively stable system and support from all sides before progress can be made." China's pig breeding work is mainly advanced by enterprises, and the various plans of enterprises often change according to market changes. He concluded that the main reason breeding is not done well now is that everyone's need for interests is higher than the need for breeding. When this situation changes, breeding work will naturally forge ahead through the waves. What is gratifying is that "at present, the entire industry is developing in this direction."