H7N9 Bird Flu Deals Heavy Blow to Poultry Industry; Beijing Plans 90 Million Yuan Rescue

  The Beijing municipal government has decided to provide financial subsidies to rescue the poultry industry, which has been hit hard by the H7N9 panic.
According to Zhao Genwu, director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture, who spoke at the April 19 meeting on promoting the stable development of the poultry industry in Beijing, the subsidy funds could reach 90 million yuan.

However, an official from the Municipal Bureau of Agriculture stressed to our reporter that 90 million yuan is only a preliminary estimate, and the exact scale of the subsidy has yet to be finalized.
It is reported that, following Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, where H7N9 cases were relatively concentrated, Beijing also issued the "Notice on Opinions Concerning Promoting the Stable Development of the Poultry Industry in This Municipality." In addition to deciding to provide financial subsidies to the poultry industry affected by Beijing's H7N9 bird flu prevention and control efforts, it also introduced four support policies aimed at ensuring an effective supply and stable prices of poultry products in the market and protecting the interests of farm operators.

Subsidy Amount Could Reach 90 Million Yuan

The support policies for the poultry industry announced on April 19 were formulated by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture together with the Municipal Rural Work Committee and the Municipal Finance Bureau, with subsidy funds coming from the Beijing municipal treasury.

The specific subsidy rules are as follows: breeding poultry farms across the city that have obtained production and operation licenses will receive production-maintenance subsidies for the period from April 13 to May 13, at a standard of 10 yuan per adult breeding bird. The number of subsidized breeding birds shall be based on the number of adult breeding birds in the city's breeding poultry farms at the end of March.

Registered and filed large-scale laying hen farms in the city will receive a one-time subsidy of 3 yuan per adult laying hen in stock; meat pigeon farms will receive a one-time subsidy of 2 yuan per meat pigeon in stock. The number of subsidized birds shall be based on the stock numbers of registered and filed large-scale farms in the city at the end of March this year.

Specialized households raising free-range poultry in all districts and counties under Beijing's jurisdiction will also receive one-time hardship subsidies. The specific subsidy plans shall be formulated by the governments of each district and county on their own.
In addition, the government will also provide subsidies to designated poultry slaughtering enterprises, enabling them to purchase poultry raised in the city in accordance with free-range purchase contracts, and will provide fixed-rate storage cost subsidies for poultry meat products whose sales have been blocked by the impact of H7N9 bird flu and which need to be stored. The subsidy standard is 700 yuan per ton, for the period from April 13 to May 13.

These four support policies are broadly similar to, though slightly different from, similar policies previously introduced by Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui and other places.
For example, Shanghai provides production-maintenance subsidies of 15 yuan per adult breeding bird, while Beijing provides 10 yuan. In addition, Shanghai implements designated protective-price purchases of broiler chickens and culled laying hens throughout the city, and Anhui stipulates 50% interest subsidies on working capital loans for provincial-level agricultural industrialization leading enterprises engaged in poultry breeding and processing across the province, while Beijing has no such provisions.

“No Intention of Opening Up Live Poultry Trading”

While adopting rescue policies for the poultry breeding industry, another controversy involving the breeding industry is whether the ban on live poultry markets is effective.
"Since the beginning of bird flu prevention and control in 2004, Beijing has established a policy of closing all live poultry trading markets in the city, and it has persisted for all these years; there are no live poultry trading markets in any of Beijing's large markets," Yao Jiezhang, deputy director of the Office of the Beijing Command for Major Animal and Plant Epidemic Emergencies, told our reporter on April 18.

It is understood that when bird flu broke out in Southeast Asia at the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004, Beijing temporarily shut down all live poultry trading markets. After the bird flu passed, controls on live poultry markets were relaxed somewhat.

On March 24, 2004, Beijing issued the "Next-Step Work Opinions on Preventing and Controlling Major Animal Epidemics in This Municipality," which mentioned that, given that the highly pathogenic avian influenza epidemic nationwide was stabilizing, live poultry trading would be resumed in the city, but the trading venues must be relatively independent and easy to disinfect. On-site slaughter of live poultry was strictly prohibited.
In November 2005, affected by a new wave of bird flu, the Beijing municipal government once again announced a suspension of live poultry trading activities throughout the city. After the epidemic passed, whether the ban on live poultry markets would be lifted was never made clear. The shutdown has in fact continued to this day, for 7 years.

In the meantime, in 2006, many residents called the Beijing Bureau of Agriculture hoping to open up live poultry market trading. "Those who raised the issue were mainly people in the catering industry, the elderly and the sick; they hoped to be able to drink firewood chicken soup. At the time, opening up was considered," Yao Jiezhang recalled.

Thus, on June 16, 2006, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture issued a notice stating that live poultry trading in Beijing could be resumed under certain conditions. It also stipulated that any market or stall engaged in live poultry (including birds) business activities must undergo an animal epidemic prevention conditions review by the local animal epidemic prevention supervision agency and obtain an "Animal Epidemic Prevention Qualification Certificate" before it may engage in live poultry trading.