TITLE:
Small Scale Pig Farming in Northern Shanxi: An Environment, Health and Development Perspective
AUTHORS:
Lichao Yang, Huanhuan Zhang
KEYWORDS:
Small Scale Pig Farming, Environmental Pollution from Pig Breeding, Sustainable Pig Farming
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.8,
July
29,
2022
ABSTRACT: Over
the past three years, under the combined impact of national policies and
markets, the landscape of the pig farming industry in China is undergoing great
changes, with a large number of medium and small farmers and scattered (sanyang) breeding households withdrawing
from the market, and the market shares of large-scale pig breeding enterprises
rising. Pressure from environmental protection and industrial transformation is
placing the scattered breeding households, which were formerly the mainstay of
the breeding industry, in a dilemma. Research and public opinion generally
believe that sharp fluctuations in pig prices and environmental pollution from
pig breeding are the primary negative effects of the sector and that both are
due to the lack of macro control and the nonstandard practices of scattered
households. But is this really the case?
Drawing on qualitative fieldwork in northern Shanxi, this paper aims to provide a case
study of scattered pig breeding and its interaction with environmental
protection. Empirical research found that, in this region of Northern Shanxi,
where animal husbandry and horticulture are equally important and
complementary, pig breeding by scattered households does not put obvious
pressure on the environment. Although there is still room for improvement in policy implementation and cooperation among
government departments, and so on, pig farming is part of a sustainable
agricultural system. Instead of discouraging scattered pig breeding everywhere,
policy needs to take local environmental conditions and the relationship
between horticulture and livestock rearing into account.