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African swine fever
ChinaScience

African swine fever: China limits live pig shipments to curb outbreaks

  • New government zone policy aims to encourage the transport of pork rather than live pigs
  • The emergence of new variants risks further spread with farmers unable to detect milder symptoms

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Industrial pig farmers have improved biosecurity measures, say agricultural experts, but small family farms still have a long way to go and may lose their business if risky measures fail in the face of an outbreak of African swine fever or other diseases. Photo: Reuters
Cheryl Heng
China is stepping up efforts to control the spread of African swine fever, restricting the movement of live pigs within designated regions.
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While the country aims for a full recovery from the pork crisis by midyear, experts warn that this goal could be much further away.

On April 29, the northern region of Inner Mongolia reported the country’s 10th sporadic outbreak of African swine fever, a disease that first erupted in China in August 2018.

In all, 343 of 432 pigs were killed at one farm in the outbreak, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said. So far, the outbreaks have been sporadic and not linked in clusters or regional in scope. A total of 2,100 pigs have been culled this year.

From May 1, the ministry has brought in a trial control measure preventing hogs, except for breeding pigs and piglets, from being moved outside their zones, a move to encourage the transport of pork rather than live pigs. Five zones were drawn up to control the spread of animal diseases, particularly African swine fever, which is deadly for pigs but not harmful to humans.

Specialist pig veterinary consultant Steven McOrist said the disease had been the most serious problem for China’s hog industry for 50 years, wiping out an estimated half of its pig population in the early days.

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