Twist in the tale for 'scattered' farmers

Updated: 2012-01-31 11:10

By An Baijie (China Daily)

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However, experienced pig farmers say villagers who enter the market for short-term gain are actually partially to blame for the rise and fall in pork prices.

"We call it the pig cycle," An Baoshou told China Daily. The 49-year-old from Zhucheng in Shandong has been trading swine for more than 10 years in eastern areas of the province, including Weifang, Qingdao and Rizhao.

He explained that people decide to start keeping pigs when prices are high and stop when they drop, a major factor behind the price fluctuations.

The cycle lasts three years, he said. "Pig farmers can suffer losses of 200 to 400 yuan for each pig when the price hits rock bottom."

The consumer price index (CPI) grew by 6.4 percent year-on-year in June, 1.37 percent of which came solely from the increase in pork prices, according to a July report by the National Bureau of Statistics.

In fact, pork prices play such a large role in the CPI that some netizens have jokingly dubbed it the "changing pig index".

For Zhang, the index means very little. "I'm not well-educated and I don't know anything about the CPI. I don't care about any index," he said. "What I do know is that many villagers have made a fortune by raising pigs, and I must follow them."

Risks too high

Scattered breeders are also competing against companies and wealthy entrepreneurs, who are increasingly investing in pig farming.

Guangdong Wens Food, one of the country's largest pork producers, plans to have an annual output of 13.6 million pigs by 2014.

Meanwhile, Ding Lei, founder and CEO of Internet giant Netease, who in 2003 was named the richest man on the Chinese mainland, and Liu Yonghao, chairman of food company New Hope Group, have both revealed ambitious plans to build huge pig farms.

Twist in the tale for 'scattered' farmers

Sleeping piglets at Lianshan Black Pigs Farm in Wulian county, Shandong. [Photo / China Daily]

Many scattered breeders also want to expand their operations. However, they face many obstacles.

Liu Xiangyun, a farmer in Shandong's Zhongzhi township, owns nearly 200 pigs and had hoped to find land to build a bigger sty. So far, his efforts have been futile.

"The local government doesn't receive any tax revenue from pig farmers, so it is reluctant to give land to build pig pens," he said, adding that his request for a loan from the local bank was also refused, as the risks are too high.

Wei Maoduo, a veterinarian in Zhang Shoukui's village, agreed that there are many things that can go wrong for livestock farmers.

"The villagers' pens are set close to each other, so when pandemics (like the one that killed Zhang's piglets) break out, it has the potential to kill every animal in the village," he said.

Whether scattered breeders will make their fortune in 2012 remains to be seen, yet Zhang insisted he is not backing out now.

"Those who do it for a long time are the ones that make the money," he said.

However, he might be wise to take heed of a saying popular in his native village. It goes: "Although you claim to possess millions of assets, those with fur don't count."

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