September 25, 2007

China to reserve land for large livestock farms

China has ordered local governments to set aside enough land to be used for large-scale livestock and poultry operations as part of efforts to bring economies of scale to the industry, state media said on Monday (September 25).

As Beijing is focusing on the rapid growth of industrial farming, those moves have been impeded by land use rules that make it difficult to convert village communal land into use for large-scale agriculture.

The notice by the Ministry of Land and Resources and the Ministry of Agriculture requires local governments to arrange for expanding land for use by large livestock operations in a timely fashion, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Authorities should try to use barren land such as bare hillsides for such operations and must avoid encroaching on arable land, Xinhua cited the notice as saying.

China has the world's biggest pig and poultry population, but much of that production is currently scattered in small backyard operations.

The country has also been struggling to keep its farmland from shrinking, as it has a fifth of the world's population but only 7 percent of its arable land.