Peasants and Pork: The Changing Contribution of Pig Farming to Rural Livelihoods

Abstract

Drawing on data from the National Agricultural Censuses (1996-2016) and the National Rural Fixed Observation Point Survey (1986-2018), this article provides a holistic review of China’s pig breeding development during the last three decades. Pig farming had developed from extremely small-scale rearing in the mid-1980s to large scale husbandry in the mid-1990s, yet a majority of pigs were still reared by individual agricultural households. From the mid-1990s, individual pig breeders began to withdraw because of the growing opportunity cost of labor and the falling need for organic manure in agricultural activities. Small-scale pig farming has been replaced by highly commercialized and specialized companies who have further collaborated with expert large-scale pig farming households to form a whole pig breeding and sales chain. But even now, pig rearing is still important to the livelihoods of poor rural households. Policies and subsidies should be in place to protect the interests of individual breeders.