Pig breeders bank on prosperous year ahead

Feb 27, 2023

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Over the past three years, the pig breeding industry in Chongqing’s Rongchang district — a hub for China’s animal husbandry — suffered the double whammy of COVID-19 and African swine fever, leading to drastic ups and downs in the market, according to Guo Ping, a pig breeder for over 16 years.

But she believes 2023 might be a good year, as the most recent round of COVID-19 has peaked, and pig diseases have been contained by advanced measures and biological technologies.

Guo’s 30,000-square-meter pig farm — Xingwang Breeding Pig Farm — which mainly raises breeding sows and piglets, has a capacity of about 600 breeding sows. She estimated that at least 120,000 breeding piglets on the farm could be sold this year and the yearly revenue might range from 60 million yuan ($8.83 million) to 110 million yuan, depending on the market.

Pork plays an indispensable role in many Chinese people’s diet, and the country accounts for over half of the world’s pig population.

Rongchang, a border district in the west of Chongqing, is known as “China’s animal husbandry science and technology city”, and even has a breed of pig named after it — Rongchang pig.

Rongchang pig has strong adaptability and good disease resistance and meat quality, according to Zeng Zhu, deputy director of Rongchang Husbandry Development Center.

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