African swine fever spreads to one of China’s biggest pig-farming regions

China’s pork industry is struggling to contain the spread of African swine fever, which has now reached the southwest of the country – one of its major pig-producing areas.

Ten of 16 pigs infected with the virus have died at a farm in Yibin, Sichuan province, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Friday. In central Hubei province, another 13 pigs died from the disease on Thursday following reports of an outbreak there last month.

African swine fever has now spread to most of China’s pig-farming regions, and Sichuan is one of the biggest.

The first reported case was confirmed in Liaoning province in August, followed by cases across the northeast in Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia and Hebei. Liaoning remains the worst-hit province in the country.

Outbreaks have since been discovered in southern pork-loving region, including in Fujian. To date, 18 of China’s 31 provinces and regions have been affected by the disease and more than 100,000 pigs have been culled in an effort to stop the virus from spreading.

In Guangdong, Xu Jianxian, who has 20,000 pigs at his farm in Zhaoqing, said he was doing everything he could to prevent an outbreak.

“I have not heard of any infection in Guangdong province – I have very good prevention measures in place,” Xu said. “I try to avoid letting outsiders into my pig farm, I vaccinate all my pigs and I disinfect the farm twice a week.”