Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL3N2172BW
RPT-INSIGHT-Piles of pigs: Swine fever outbreaks go unreported in rural China
Dominique Patton
10 Min Read
(Repeats item first moved on Wednesday with no changes to text)
* Some farm managers say local officials ignored swine fever cases
* Expert says random distribution of reported outbreaks is unusual
* Agriculture ministry has warned against covering up outbreaks
* China consumes around half the world?s pork
* Analysts say 2019 pig production could fall 30 percent
By Dominique Patton
BAODING, China, March 20 (Reuters) - When pigs on the Xinda Husbandry Co. Ltd breeding farm in northern China began dying in growing numbers in early January, it looked increasingly likely that the farm had been struck by the much feared African swine fever, an incurable disease that has spread rapidly across the country since last year.
But after taking samples from some pigs, local officials in the Xushui district of Baoding city, about an hour?s drive from Beijing, said their tests came back negative, said Sun Dawu, chairman of Hebei Dawu Agriculture Group, the farm owner.
As hundreds of pigs began dying daily on the 20,000-head farm, the company obtained a test kit that showed some positive results for the virus. But after further lobbying by Xinda, officials just offered the company subsidies for farm buildings and other investments, said Sun.
Sun?s account of events and pictures taken by farm staff of dead pigs lying in rows and a pile outside the farm could not be independently verified.
Xushui district said in a faxed response to Reuters on Tuesday that it was opening an investigation into the case, adding that it had found some ?discrepancies? with the reported version of events...
RPT-INSIGHT-Piles of pigs: Swine fever outbreaks go unreported in rural China
Dominique Patton
10 Min Read
(Repeats item first moved on Wednesday with no changes to text)
* Some farm managers say local officials ignored swine fever cases
* Expert says random distribution of reported outbreaks is unusual
* Agriculture ministry has warned against covering up outbreaks
* China consumes around half the world?s pork
* Analysts say 2019 pig production could fall 30 percent
By Dominique Patton
BAODING, China, March 20 (Reuters) - When pigs on the Xinda Husbandry Co. Ltd breeding farm in northern China began dying in growing numbers in early January, it looked increasingly likely that the farm had been struck by the much feared African swine fever, an incurable disease that has spread rapidly across the country since last year.
But after taking samples from some pigs, local officials in the Xushui district of Baoding city, about an hour?s drive from Beijing, said their tests came back negative, said Sun Dawu, chairman of Hebei Dawu Agriculture Group, the farm owner.
As hundreds of pigs began dying daily on the 20,000-head farm, the company obtained a test kit that showed some positive results for the virus. But after further lobbying by Xinda, officials just offered the company subsidies for farm buildings and other investments, said Sun.
Sun?s account of events and pictures taken by farm staff of dead pigs lying in rows and a pile outside the farm could not be independently verified.
Xushui district said in a faxed response to Reuters on Tuesday that it was opening an investigation into the case, adding that it had found some ?discrepancies? with the reported version of events...
