China’s pig relocation in balance

Bai, Zhaohai [The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hebei, China] Jin, Shuqin [Research Center for Rural Economy, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, China.] Wu, Yan [School of Economics, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing, China] Ermgassen, Erasmus zu [UCL] Oenema, Oene [Department of Soil Quality, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands] Chadwick, David [School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, UK] Lassaletta, Luis [CEIGRAM - Agricultural Production, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.] Velthof, Gerard [Wageningen Environmental Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands] Zhao, Jun [The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hebei, China] Ma, Lin [The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hebei, China] et al.[show all]

In 2015, the Chinese government banned livestock production in some regions (called non-livestock production regions, NLPRs) to control surface water pollution near vulnerable water bodies. In total, 90,000 NLPRs had been established by 2017, covering a land area of 0.82 million km2 and shutting down 0.26 million pig farms1. As a consequence, the number of slaughtered pigs decreased by 46 million head yr–1 between 2014 and 2017. The NLPRs policy is globally unprecedented in terms of the geographical area and number of farms affected, as well as its implementation speed. The NLPRs policy has reduced pork self-sufficiency in some provinces by up to 40% (ref. 2). However, it is unclear which farms and regions may take over the market share.