The 4450 Model of Pig Farming Is Promoted in Xuan'en
On June 13, a reporter saw in the pig pens of Tan Shishao and Tan Shigang, large-scale ecological pig farmers in Zhiyaoping Village, Wanzhai Township, Xuan'en County, that they were organizing workers to level the biological fermentation material in the pig pens. Using biological fermentation technology to raise pigs, in the first 5 months of this year they achieved pig sales revenue of 1 million yuan, and on average each pig reduced 390 kg of pig manure and 4 tons of sewage pollution per year, showing both economic and ecological benefits.
"Farmers raise commercial pigs on a large scale, improving the benefits of large-scale farming and replacing the former smallholder economic mindset of 'raising pigs for the New Year.'" Tan Shigang told the reporter. The successful exploration and implementation of the "4450" pig farming model in Xuan'en County reflects a fundamental change in the concept and method of pig farming. The person in charge of the Xuan'en County Animal Husbandry Bureau said that promoting the "4450" pig farming model replaces the traditional, backward pig farming methods of the past, which had low benefits and serious pollution, achieving large-scale pollution-free pig farming throughout the county and improving pork quality.
The traditional way pig farmers in Xuan'en County raised pigs led to large amounts of manure and sewage pollution from pigs that were consistently difficult to handle, restricting the growth of the pig farming industry. To solve this problem, as early as the second half of 2008, Xuan'en County organized a special team to visit the Hubei Provincial Original Breed Farm to study the new technology of pig farming with biological fermentation beds, and in April of the following year took the lead in the prefecture in launching the "4450" pig farming model, namely supporting each farmer to build a 40 sq m biological fermentation bed, raise 4 breeding sows, and produce 50 pigs for slaughter annually. To promote this pig farming model, the county formulated the "4450" standardized large-scale pig farming plan and implementation guide, proposing that during the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, the county would develop 10,000 households using the "4450" pig farming model, with 500,000 pigs for slaughter annually, and together with other scattered farmers, more than 600,000 pigs for slaughter annually. That year, the Xuan'en County Animal Husbandry Bureau and the Zhushan Town Government organized 100 households in the 3 villages of Xiejiaba, Ganxi and Fengkouba in Zhushan Town to carry out a pilot of the "4450" pig farming model; these 100 households raised more than 400 breeding sows and produced more than 2,000 pigs for slaughter that year. For this reason, the prefecture-wide on-site meeting on "4450" ecological pig farming was held in Xuan'en to promote Xuan'en County's typical experience.
In recent years, based on the pilot, Xuan'en County has promoted the "4450" pig farming model throughout the county. To solve the difficulty of farmers' shortage of funds for pig farming, the county Party committee and county government integrated whole-village poverty alleviation and development funds, key village construction funds in the former revolutionary base areas, special animal husbandry development funds, grassroots agricultural technology promotion demonstration funds, and township coordinated funds, giving 2,500 to 6,000 yuan in project fund subsidies for each completed household, with cumulative subsidies of more than 5 million yuan over the past 3 years.
Xuan'en County pays attention to technical guidance and popularization for the construction of "4450" model households, from site selection for building the farm, the construction process, litter production and management, to the use of biological fermentation agents, building one household and succeeding with one household; it strengthens follow-up services and extends the service life of the litter. At present, the county has built 29 pig farming professional cooperatives, raising the degree of organization among farmers in pig farming. The Mengjiawan Pig Farming Professional Cooperative in Zhushan Town and the Xuan'en County Shuangying Farming Cooperative, based on their large-scale farms, have established cooperative relationships with surrounding "4450" model farmers, jointly facing the market, uniformly purchasing veterinary drugs and feed, and uniformly selling hogs, reducing costs and improving benefits. According to reports, the "4450" pig farming model in Xuan'en County has many advantages: relatively low investment, easy feeding and management, suitable for moderate-scale farming in mountainous areas, and reduced risks of pig disease and market risk. Often when pig prices rise, farmers rush into pig farming, and when prices fall, farmers suffer heavy losses. The "4450" model breeds and raises its own pigs, with relatively low costs and a small number of pigs per batch, so losses are smaller when pig prices fall; the "4450" model uses the new technology of biological fermentation beds to raise pigs, with obvious advantages such as saving feed, saving water, saving labor, improving pigs' resistance to disease, improving pork quality, increasing farming benefits, and being environmentally friendly and pollution-free. After on-site inspections, leaders from the Planning Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Provincial Department of Agriculture, and the Provincial Animal Husbandry Bureau fully affirmed Xuan'en County's implementation of the "4450" pig farming model, holding that the "4450" pig farming model is a suitable choice for the large-scale development of the ecological pig farming industry in mountainous rural areas at the present stage.
The "4450" pig farming model highlights comprehensive economic, social and ecological benefits. As of May this year, the county had supported 1,727 "4450" pig farming households, produced 176,600 pigs for slaughter, and increased pig farmers' net income by 8.33 million yuan. In the first 5 months of this year alone, the county produced 43,000 pigs for slaughter, and pig farmers' net income increased by 2.03 million yuan.