Chapter 1 Development of the Hog Industry and its Integration in China

Development of the Hog Industry and its Integration in ChinaHog production is an important component of agriculture in China.Pork is the main non-staple food for most of urban and rural Chinese residents.China is not only a great hog production country, but also a pork consumption country.Both hog production and pork consumption in China accounted for about half of the world's total.The development of the hog industry is integral in meeting the demand for pork.Moreover, it increases income and employment of rural labor forces and makes a significant contribution to promoting the transformation of grain and the development of relevant industries.As a result of reform and opening of the market, hog production has developed rapidly.In 2006, China's hog inventories and hog slaughters amounted to 494 million and 681 million, respectively, ranking first in the world.The output value of the hog breeding industry reached RMB 644.35 billion, accounting for 48.4% of the livestock industry.Due to the low price of hogs, rising feed costs, the highly pathogenic blue ear pig disease, and other factors, hog production declined significantly from the second half of 2006.Since April 2007, hog and pork supplies have tightened, forcing prices to rise sharply.Prices now remain high, which has a certain impact on the livelihood of the low-income residents and macroeconomic policies and has caused widespread concern in society.This research presents an in-depth analysis of hog production and the development of problems within the hog industry.Keeping hog production and market supplies of pork stable, as well as establishing long-term mechanisms promoting hog production, are the keys to protecting the hog industry and enhancing long-term, healthy development. The development course of hog productionRaising pigs represents China's traditional livestock-raising sector and has a long history.China is a major hog producer as well as a major hog consumer.Since the founding of the People's Republic, especially after China's reform and opening up, ,the hog industry has been developing rapidly.In 2006, China's total output of pork was 51.792 million tons, accounting for 46.9% of world pork production and 64.6% of China's total output of meat.Looking at the development of nearly 60 courses of the pig industry in China since 1949, it can generally be divided into five periods. The slow development period before the reform (1949-1976)This period can be further divided into three stages.First is the recovery development stage after the founding of the new China (1949)(1950)(1951)(1952)(1953)(1954)(1955)(1956)(1957).With the stability of the livestock development policies, live pig policies allowed farmers to own the pigs they raised while receiving support from the government.Implementation of the policy promoted the development of the production of live pigs.Pig inventory increased from 57.75 million of 1949 to 146 million of 1957, restored to pre-war levels.The former part of the second stage (1958)(1959)(1960)(1961)(1962)(1963)(1964)(1965)(1966) coincided with 'the Great Leap Forward' and with policies instability.Here, pig development policy demanded that private pigs be put into collectives and encouraged the promotion of "10,000 pig farms".Coupled with decreases in agricultural production and the scarcity of feed, all livestock production dropped greatly, resulting in a shortage of supply.Adding to this a number of severe natural disasters, havoc was wreaked on pig production so that pig inventories in 1961 decreased by 75.52 million.The latter part of this stage is called the adjustment phase (1961)(1962)(1963)(1964)(1965)(1966).Here, the State Council made a policy where "pigs were allowed to be raised both collectively and privately, though mainly privately", which again promoted rapid development in the hog industry.In 1966, the amount of live pigs nationally reached 193 million.The third development stage (1967)(1968)(1969)(1970)(1971)(1972)(1973)(1974)(1975)(1976) represented the slow-down.The Cultural Revolution began in 1967, due to a series of "leftist" policies, and the policies of the past, which supported the private breeding of live pigs, were abolished.Later, the government undertook a series of corrective measures to encourage farmers to breed pigs, but the measure was not implemented well and caused slaughter rates and meat rates to decline.In 1978 and 1979, the slaughter rate of live pigs decreased to about 55%, at which point hog production developed very slowly. 1.2The accelerating period of China's reform (1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)