Extensive measures taken to save local species

Authorities have taken a number of measures in recent years to safeguard indigenous pig species in China to prevent them from declining further.

The Animal Husbandry Law, adopted in 2006 and revised in 2015, listed the conservation of animal genetic resources in the national economic and social development plans. It also encouraged enterprises and individuals to take part in the conservation and scientific development of such resources.

A national committee for managing animal genetic resources was set up by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in 2007.

Yang Hongjie, division chief for animal industry development at the National Animal Husbandry Services, said the ministry has also established 55 national genetic conservation farms for indigenous pig species, and nearly 200,000 samples of sperm from eight species have been collected to be frozen for preservation.

Based on the indigenous resources, researchers cultivated 25 new pig species, he said, adding that 63 of them are under industrial production, accounting for 70 percent of the total.

A number of leading companies that use resources from locally bred pig species have also been established, providing pork to consumers and contributing to preservation efforts.

Despite the progress made, preservation of locally bred pig species still faces many challenges, Yang said. For example, because of rising operating costs for genetic conservation farms and insufficient government investment, many of the farms face heavy financial pressure to sustain operations. This could put some locally bred species that lack economic value at risk of extinction.

Yang said more measures are needed to improve the preservation of locally bred pigs, including better infrastructure such as genetic preservation farms and gene banks. New methods and technologies for genetic preservation should also be developed.

Meanwhile, the exchange and sharing system for animal genetic resources should be improved to ensure better efficiency in preservation efforts, he said.

More fundamental research is needed on locally bred pig species, including the quality of their meat, reproduction and disease resistance, to promote their development and use, Yang said.

Emergency plans should also be drawn up for genetic preservation farms to prevent and control African swine fever, a deadly disease that has broken out in many areas of China since it was first reported in the country in August, Yang said. This would prevent such outbreaks occurring at preservation farms causing the extinction of locally bred species, he said.

In addition, more efforts could be made to take full advantage of locally bred pigs - such as the texture and taste of their meat - in their use and resource development to increase market supply to meet consumers' increasingly diverse demands, Yang added.