Jilin's livestock production increases steadily in H1, with output value reaching 64.56 billion yuan
According to statistics, by the end of June, the number of pigs, cattle and sheep raised in Jilin province had increased 4.3 percent, 10.6 percent and 25.5 percent respectively, 2.6, 7.2 and 23.7 percentage points higher than the national average level, ranking first among the three northeastern provinces. Jilin is the only province in the Northeast China region with positive growth of hog production, as well as the only province with double-digit growth of beef cattle and mutton sheep. By the end of the second quarter, the number of beef cattle had reached 3.645 million, with a year-on-year increase of 12 percent and a quarter-on-quarter increase for six consecutive quarters. The output value of livestock production had risen 2 percent year on year to 64.56 billion yuan, accounting for 86.4 percent of the total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery in the province, playing an important supporting role for the overall economic development of agriculture and rural areas.
The construction of the ten-million beef cattle project opens a new chapter. "Straw to Meat" and ten-million beef cattle projects have been fully recognized by relevant national ministries and commissions and rated as excellent projects for consolidating and expanding the achievements in poverty alleviation in coordination with the extensive drive for rural revitalization. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has listed Jilin as a demonstration province for the scale expansion and quality improvement of cows in cropland-grassland transition areas and a pilot province for complete sets of equipment for beef cattle. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), the ministry is to support Jilin in building a national laboratory for the genetic breeding of beef cattle, a regional livestock & poultry gene bank and a test station for beef cattle production. The Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission are to give more support to Jilin in the quality and efficiency improvement projects of cattle and sheep, the creation of beef cattle industry clusters and the funds raised from special bonds. The province has planned 178 beef cattle projects with more than 1,000 head for each, including 48 completed projects with 117,000 head in total. There are 75 projects under construction, with 24,200 head of beef cattle. 47 special bond projects for beef cattle have been approved by the state, with a capital demand of 20.67 billion yuan and a total issuance of 6.161 billion yuan.
Breakthroughs are made in the innovation of financing mechanisms for animal husbandry. In view of the impact of the epidemic on the beef cattle industry, the province has developed a new loan product and set up an interest discount fund of 45 million yuan to support the scale expansion of beef cattle breeding. According to the relevant data, the province had issued animal husbandry loans of 12.69 billion yuan by the end of June. 210 million (head) of livestock and poultry had been insured, with a total insurance amount of 15.27 billion yuan. In the first half of the year, the province's balance of beef cattle loans amounted to 17.488 billion yuan, up 3.525 billion yuan from the beginning of this year. The balance of live beef cattle mortgage loans was 3.446 billion yuan, up 1.185 billion yuan. The number of beef cattle under policy-based insurance in the province reached 882,000, an increase of 272,000 over the beginning of this year. The insurance covered 24.2 percent of beef cattle raised in the province, 7.5 percentage points higher than that at the beginning of this year.
The ability to ensure the safety of animal husbandry continues to improve. To prevent foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever, the provincial department of animal husbandry has done a lot of effective work. The foot-and-mouth disease free areas in the province have been operating safely for 56 months, and there has been no African swine fever outbreak for 44 months. The department has guided producers to issue 316,700 certificates of standard commitment, and 17,000 tons of livestock products with the certificates have been available for the market. The quality and safety reputation of livestock products has significantly improved.
