January 2, 2008

China's Shandong issues dairy heifer subsidy

Shandong's Livestock Bureau announced recently that it will be issuing a one-off subsidy of RMB500 per head of dairy heifer to qualified cattle farmers in the province for the year ending 2007.

The funds for the subsidy will be jointly provided by the provincial government as well as local governments of Shandong. The provincial government will provide a respective 20 percent, 40 percent and 60 percent of the total subsidy for the eastern, central and western regions of the province.

Subsidy recipients will be farmers who participated in the 2006 National Dairy Cattle Breeding Programme as well as those who took part in the 2004-2006 Provincial Cattle Breeding Programme. For each head of Holstein dairy heifer, a one-off RMB500 feed subsidy will be given.

Officials are now working out the amount to be given to qualified farmers, who can look forward to receiving these subsidies in the next few months.

Shandong, a northern coastal province of China, is a major livestock production region in the country. The province's livestock production value amounted to RMB116 billion in 2006, accounting for 30 percent of the total value of Shandong's agricultural production for that year.

RMB1=US$0.1371 (Jan 2)