January 22, 2019
China reports biggest pig farm to be hit by swine fever
With the African swine fever outbreak in China showing little sign of abating, a large pig farm - which is owned by a Danish investment fund - becomes one of latest areas in the country to be hit by the disease.
According to Reuters, the outbreak happened at a farm in Suihua city, with 73,000 pigs in northeastern Heilongjiang province owned by the Heilongjiang Asia-Europe Animal Husbandry, a company established in 2016. The affected site - apparently the biggest Chinese farm to be impacted by swine fever since August last year - had 15,000 breeding pigs, and was planning to produce 385,000 pigs for slaughter a year, its website reveals.
Some 4,686 pigs were infected, with 3,766 reported dead, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said. The outbreak was also confirmed by Steffen Schiottz-Christensen, vice-president for North Asia at Denmark state fund IFU.
IFU, which provides risk capital and advice for investment in developing countries, invested DKK28.4 million (US$4.32 million) in the farm in 2017, according to its website, although its shareholding has since been diluted, Schiottz-Christensen said.
The incident highlights that even modernised industrial farms, which are expected to have a strong disease prevention system, are not able to escape the scourge of swine fever. So far, close to 100 farms are infected by African swine fever since August 2018.
A Reuters tally of official figures put the number of pigs in China that are culled at more than 200,000. Despite tight measures at national levels to control the disease, swine fever has reached 23 provinces and municipalities across China.
- Reuters
