




































In ternationa l
Scholars
Journa ls

 

African Journal of Pig Farming ISSN 2375-0731 Vol. 2 (1), pp. 001-004, January, 2014. Available online at 
www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals 

 

Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. 

 

Editorial 
 

Why producing pigs in China is a big challenge 

 
Egbabor Oghale 

 
Accepted 26 January, 2013 

 
The Chinese love pork – and in the future, more Chinese will love even more pork. With many 
limiting factors, it is not hard to predict that pig production in China in the near future is going 
to become an increasingly difficult job. What challenges lie ahead? 

 
Key words: Pig, pig farming, pig industry, pork production, 

 
Pork and Processing 

 
The pig industry is considered of national importance to the Chinese economy. Pork production in China, 
however, is facing enormous challenges, and as a result, the Chinese government is forced to implement 
changes to guide the industry to the future. The origin of these challenges lies in the balance between the 
limitations of the available water and land, suitable for agriculture in general (Figure 1), the still enormous 
importance of backyard pork production and the steep rise in the level of urbanisation. Pork production in China 
is enormous in numbers and in percentage of total meat consumed. In 2012 it was estimated that 50.7 million 
breeding sows and 470 million pigs were present in China. In 2012, the country's pork production amounted to 53 
million tonnes – compare this to the total meat production, which was 84 million tonnes.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
A pig farm in China. The country had a dazzling 470 million pigs in 2012. 

 

Within a relatively short period of time, the rapid urbanisation process will force the majority of pork to be raised 
by industrialised pork producers, replacing backyard production. Commercial producers will feed the rapidly 
growing urban population who will purchase their ready-to-cook, pre-packed pork in local supermarkets. This 
rapidly growing urban population will also require vegetables and rice and water for domestic purposes, to go 
with their pork. 

 

Exploring 
 
It may not come as a surprise that Chinese businessmen have been exploring opportunities to acquire 
companies to produce basic food requirements outside of China. They could then export these food materials to 
China. Shuanghui purchasing Smithfield Foods is a good example of this development. Figure 2 (see next page) 
shows the potential of such a takeover. It involves around 24 million USA produced swine carcasses annually. 



 
 
 

 

Changes  
The Chinese government has announced changes that will affect their pork producing industry. By 
2016 the Chinese are planning to have at least a 100 breeding farms enrolled in their National 
Nucleus Breeding Farm  programme, to improve the performance of their breeding farms. This is 
without neglecting their genetic potential present in their national breeds of which the Meishan breed 
is a good example.  
Another, and potentially major, new announcement of the Chinese authorities relates to the proposed 
regulations to the environmental impact of pork production. 

 

With pollution in general being one of the bigger concerns in China, this new path to follow will for 
sure lead to an increase in production costs. As a consequence a certain number of small producers 
will be forced to step out of the pork business. This in turn will lead to a higher percentage of pigs that 
are kept on industrialised pork producing facilities, accelerating the consolidation in the swine industry 
in China. Relatively small changes can be the origin of major shifts in the number of farms and the 
number of pigs per farm. All around the world we have seen the domino effect of this type of 'minor' 
changes. 
 

China's disease situation 

 

PRRS virus is very commonly present in China and is causing a variety of different clinical problems. 
Dr Qigai He, College of Veterinary Medicine of the Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, spoke 
about this topic at the latest Asian Pig Veterinary Society (APVS) congress in Ho Chi Minh City, 
Vietnam. 

 

The main consequence of a PRRS virus infection, he said, is the immune-deficiency that pigs are 
suffering from when infected with PRRS virus leading to an increase in secondary (both bacterial and 
viral-) infections. In fact, in the beginning, when the High Pathogenic PRRS (HP-PRRS) virus was 
devastating the pork industry in China (see Figure 3), all kinds of other different pathogens were 
isolated apart from PRRS virus. This high level of co-infections was also the reason for many 
discussions in that period and the reason for the prolonged time required to find the real cause of the 
problem. 

 

Scientific work by Baoqing Guo and Kelly Lager, in 2012, using reverse genetics to restore the 
original HP-PRRS field isolate, clearly showed the immune-suppressive characteristics of that original 
isolate. In these experiments, they also could show that the challenged pigs eventually died of 
infections with pathogens that were naturally present but harmless in immunologically normal or 
competent pigs.  
Vaccines are only allowed to be used on farms where PRRS virus is known to be present. Live 
vaccines are preferred, as inactivated vaccines have failed to show efficacy under Chinese 
conditions. More and more farms aim to rely on biosecurity. 
 
Other diseases 

 

PCVD virus is of equal importance to the Chinese pork industry as PRRS. The main difference is of 
course that PCVD can be easily controlled by vaccination. On the Chinese market a number of locally 
produced PCV2 vaccines have been available for some time now and recently a new PCV2d 
genotype has been described. On the Chinese market five PCV2 vaccines can be found, based on 
different domestic isolates. 

 

Classical Swine Fever (CSF) or hog cholera control is making great progress in China, according to 
Dr Qigai He. All vaccines used are based on the C-strain and are either produced on cell culture or 
still making use of rabbit-derived material. Also an ST cells based vaccine is available. With African 
Swine Fever (ASF) only a doorstep way, effective CSF vaccines are important to exclude CSF virus 
infections. This helps identifying a potential ASF infection more rapidly. 



 
 
 

 

Viral diarrhoea in piglets of three to ten days old, leading to high mortality figures, is regarded as a 
major problem in China. PED virus was frequently seen in these outbreaks but also TGE virus and 
Rota virus. 

 

Aujeszky's Disease virus or pseudorabies is controlled successfully in most breeding herds. A five 
step eradication plan, when completed successfully, leads to certification assuring potential buyers 
that they buy pigs free from AD virus.  
Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) virus will continue to be a major threat to the Chinese pork industry. 
With so many FMD infected countries bordering China and with so much cross-border trade, new 
introductions and infections appear unavoidable. 

 

Bacterial diseases are often secondary in importance to viral infections. Main attention goes to 
Haemophilus parasuis infections and of course to Streptococcus suis because of its zoonotic aspects 
and the human casualties that were seen recently. 

 

For Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, serotypes 1, 2, 3 and 7 are most frequently reported. It is 
stressed that housing conditions, poor ventilation, lack of all-in/ all-out management and overcrowding 
are considered to be the main reasons for App infections to occur. Another major concern to pork 
producers, veterinarians and regulatory officials is the failing of antibiotic treatments due to increasing 
resistance problems. 
 

The enormous importance of pork 

 

Production to China is reflected in the vast number of grants, research projects and other activities 
developed by the government to support the industry. At agricultural universities, numerous R&D 
projects are underway aimed at improving diagnostics, making better vaccines, etc. The lack of arable 
land and water, environmental problems, a growing demand of an ever-increasing urban population 
might force the  government to shift their focus a bit and allow for a part of their pork demand to be 
imported. 

 

This will solve some of China's land, water and environmental problems and will allow more regular 
supplies in the supermarkets should a new episode of HP-PRRS virus infection occur. The impact on 
local pork prices in these exporting countries is subject to   speculation. One thing is sure, however – 
a small percentage for China is a giant amount for mankind. 


