China to Standardise Livestock Production

CHINA – The breeding and raising of poultry and livestock are to be standardised by the Chinese authorities because husbandry-generated pollution has become a major problem in the countryside, according to a regulation signed by Premier Li Keqiang.
calendar icon 28 November 2013
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The regulation to prevent husbandry-generated pollution, which was announced this week, will come into force on 1 January.

It is expected to help reshape the industry and prevent avian influenza.

The Chinese authorities said that poultry and livestock production has been inconsistent with regard to environmental protection in the country's rural areas, according to a statement jointly released on Tuesday by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Agriculture.

The worsening rural environment can be largely blamed on the expansion of poultry rearing factories, said the statement.

The level of decontamination of husbandry waste remains low and this has led to wasted resources and environmental pollution, it said, adding that the industry has become the nation's major source of agricultural pollution.

The regulation orders municipal and county governments to make plans to build facilities to comprehensively use the waste products and safely dispose of them.

In heavily polluted regions, some poultry farms may be relocated or shut down.

The regulation requires local authorities to provide incentives to centralise and standardise the development of farming, and it promises to support recycling and decontamination of waste.

It also orders that untreated waste should not be released directly into the environment.

Meanwhile, poultry and livestock farms must build facilities to store waste, treat sewage, and to process manure and the methane produced from waste resources, under the regulation.

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