Small Scale Pig Farming in Northern Shanxi: An Environment, Health and Development Perspective

Abstract

Over the past three years, under the combined impact of national policies and markets, the landscape of the pig farming industry in China is undergoing great changes, with a large number of medium and small farmers and scattered (sanyang) breeding households withdrawing from the market, and the market shares of large-scale pig breeding enterprises rising. Pressure from environmental protection and industrial transformation is placing the scattered breeding households, which were formerly the mainstay of the breeding industry, in a dilemma. Research and public opinion generally believe that sharp fluctuations in pig prices and environmental pollution from pig breeding are the primary negative effects of the sector and that both are due to the lack of macro control and the nonstandard practices of scattered households. But is this really the case? Drawing on qualitative fieldwork in northern Shanxi, this paper aims to provide a case study of scattered pig breeding and its interaction with environmental protection. Empirical research found that, in this region of Northern Shanxi, where animal husbandry and horticulture are equally important and complementary, pig breeding by scattered households does not put obvious pressure on the environment. Although there is still room for improvement in policy implementation and cooperation among government departments, and so on, pig farming is part of a sustainable agricultural system. Instead of discouraging scattered pig breeding everywhere, policy needs to take local environmental conditions and the relationship between horticulture and livestock rearing into account.