Sanya issues over 10 million yuan in subsidies to help farmers develop livestock farming

Buy more than 20 piglets and get a subsidy of 300 yuan per head

Build new pens for pigs, goats and other livestock and get a subsidy of 200 yuan per sq m

More than 20 Hainan local black goats in an "attic" pen

Big subsidies for buying piglets

Farmers eager to expand their farming scale

On June 19, the 50 newly purchased piglets at the home of Li Chunping, a villager in Guoling Village, Tianya Town, were feeding in a newly built pigpen, while staff from the Municipal Animal Husbandry Bureau checked the number of piglets nearby. This is a new policy benefiting farmers introduced by Sanya this year. Farmers in all townships across the city, legally registered farming companies and cooperatives can apply to the Municipal Animal Husbandry Bureau for subsidies for newly purchased piglets. The bureau assesses the farmers' capabilities in all aspects and their hardware conditions, and determines the number of piglets they may purchase. Households that buy more than 20 piglets can receive a subsidy of 300 yuan per head, while those buying fewer than 20 can receive 280 yuan per head. Based on the current price of about 650 yuan per piglet, the subsidy covers about 50% per head.

In previous years, Li Chunping's family bought around 20 piglets. Thanks to the financial subsidy, she built a new 100 sq m pigpen and plans to double this year's farming scale, raising several sows to breed more piglets through the sows, ensuring the number of piglets raised in each batch and further reducing farming costs.

"My family has been approved for a subsidy quota of 50 piglets this year, which means a subsidy of 15,000 yuan. Once this subsidy is paid, I can buy another batch of piglets and sows to raise," Li Chunping planned.

Staff from the Municipal Animal Husbandry Bureau told reporters that not only is there a subsidy for buying piglets, but farmers who raise sows can also receive a subsidy of 100 yuan per head. These subsidies are all important measures to encourage farmers to expand their farming operations and support the development of Sanya's livestock industry. Taking Tianya Town as an example, this year the Animal Husbandry Bureau approved 155 households to purchase piglets, with a total of 4,102 piglets. Relevant data show that ordinary farmers raise around 20 piglets on average, and each household can receive a subsidy of about 6,000 yuan.

"Farmers buy the piglets first, staff randomly visit their homes to verify the number of piglets, and then the subsidy is paid. This is mainly to prevent farmers from buying sick piglets just to make up the numbers and get the subsidy," explained staff from the Municipal Animal Husbandry Bureau. The subsidy gives farmers the funds to buy new piglets.

Farming environment improved

Livestock output and income increase

At the home of Luo Mingshao, a villager in Group 1 of Wenmen Village Committee, Tianya Town, the newly built pigpen covers 180 sq m. A sow has just given birth to more than a dozen piglets, which are housed separately in a spacious, clean pen, while several pregnant sows are kept individually in a separate compartment. The recently purchased piglets and pigs about to be sent to market are raised separately according to their growth stage.

The reporter saw at the site that the roof of the newly built pen is about 2 m above the ground and covered with insulating foam. Standing inside the pen on a hot summer day does not feel hot; instead, there is a steady natural breeze. There is also a drainage channel inside the pen, and the waste flows along the pipes to a three-stage septic tank, where it can be recycled to produce biogas, can also become natural fertilizer for crops, and can also ease the environmental pollution problems caused by pig farming. Some villagers also plant sweet potato leaves and eggplants around the pigpen, watering them with the collected fertilizer, and the mature crops can in turn serve as feed.

Not far from here is the old pen at Luo Mingwen's home, a low pigpen simply built with wooden strips and bricks.

"The old pen was very small. At the very beginning I started with 3 piglets and raised at most a few dozen pigs a year. With the subsidy, I built this large new pen, and now raising more than 200 pigs is no problem at all. The 36,000 yuan pen subsidy has already arrived in my account, and I plan to buy another batch of piglets to expand my farming scale," Luo Mingwen told reporters, adding that pig farming can produce three or four batches a year, bringing in nearly 100,000 yuan a year.

It is understood that the subsidy for newly built pens is 200 yuan per sq m. Statistics show that from 2013 to 2014, Tianya Town built new pens for a total of 40 households, with a newly built area of 6,401.37 sq m. Among these, 32 households built new pig pens, with a newly built area of 5,576.37 sq m; 7 households built new goat pens, with a newly built area of 705 sq m; and 1 household built a new broiler chicken house, with a newly built area of 120 sq m.

At the home of Fu Rimei in Guoling Village, more than 20 Hainan local black goats were resting leisurely in an "attic" pen. The newly built goat pen covers 100 sq m and can hold more than 100 goats at a time. The entire pen is built of wood and stands about half a meter above the ground. Since goats are prone to illness, this can greatly reduce the probability of disease. Secondly, goat manure is excellent fertilizer, and dedicated buyers come to purchase it; farmers can also use it to fertilize their own farmland. "Right now there are only a dozen or so goats in the pen. Once the pen subsidy of 20,000 yuan is paid, I'll use the money to buy a batch of new goats to raise," Fu Rimei said.

Fu Rimei told reporters that this subsidy gave them enough funds to build new pens, improving their past farming environment, reducing the probability of goats dying from illness, and lowering farming risks, giving them the means to raise more goats and increase their income.