CHINA’S pork production is expected to recover gradually and return to normal by 2021, according to an action plan released Friday by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The plan said agricultural authorities across China must stabilize pork production, with guaranteeing supply a key task, and attempt every means to restore pork production to normal as quickly as possible. The target is to ensure the stock of pigs stops declining and starts increasing before the end of the year and ensure a generally stable supply of pork during the New Year’s Day holiday Jan. 1, the seven-day Spring Festival holiday in late January, and the annual sessions of China’s top legislative and advisory bodies in March, the plan said. The country’s stock of pigs, which has been affected by outbreaks of African swine fever, is expected to recover to close to normal by the end of next year and return to the level before the outbreaks by 2021, the plan said. The plan specified 18 key tasks, including granting subsidies to large-scale breeding farms and stepping up fiscal, financial and land support to boost hog production. In three years, the country will add 120 pilot hog farms with standardized operations, which could serve as examples for boosting industry standardization, according to the plan. The country will also overhaul the list of areas that restrict hog production, lifting unreasonable restrictions, according to the plan. The plan also specified disease control and animal waste treatment measures and ways to balance hog supplies across regions. Affected by African swine fever and cyclical factors, prices of pork have been soaring this year as supply falls short of demand. The trend has softened in the past weeks after the country rolled out multiple measures to stabilize hog production. From Nov. 25 to 29, the average pork price index in 16 provincial-level regions tracked by the ministry dropped 3.5 percent week on week, the third consecutive week that the index has retreated since the beginning of November. (Xinhua) | 