China to Enact Law on Stock Farming

CHINA - As more than 200 people were infected with pig-borne endemic and 38 died of the disease, China is expected to enact a law on stock farming so as to ensure the safety of meat and fowl in customers' baskets.

The draft law on animal husbandry has been submitted to the 17th meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative, for deliberation on Tuesday.

"China's small-scale, scattered household livestock farming goes against the epidemic prevention and control," said Shu Huiguo, vice-chairman of the NPC Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, when explaining the draft to the NPC Standing Committee.

The draft law on husbandry encourages stock farmers to build large-scale fields and regulates large household farmers and farm owners to establish breeding records which could help investigators look into the breeding process of the animals.

The draft has specific stipulations on the location of farms, use of veterinary feed and medicines, contamination control and management of animals' signs.

The draft requires all stock farmers to report any animal's epidemic situation to local epidemic prevention and control stations and take measures to curb epidemic diseases. The draft also endows farmers with the right to claim reasonable compensation after their diseased stock and birds were killed by the government.

According to Wang Chaoying, official of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of NPC, the total output value of Chinese stock farming in 2004 was 1.22 trillion yuan (about 149 billion USdollars), 33.6 percent of the total agriculture output value. Morethan 30 percent of the cash income of Chinese farmers came from raising livestock and fowl in 2003.

Source: China Broadcast