China is the world's number one pork consumer, but the breeding pigs that determine the quality of pork rely heavily on imports. In the past 30 years, China's pig industry has been completely westernized, and local pig breeds have come to the brink of extinction. China's pig industry is falling into a vicious circle of "foreign introduction- degradation - re-introduction - re-degradation". How to solve the problem of Chinese pig breeds? Chen Sheng, a pork guy at Peking University, said that Chinese eating meat should not look at the face of foreign countries, and that preserving seeds and developing new seeds is the key to breaking the situation.
Chen Sheng, chairman of Guangdong No.1 Food Co., Ltd. Photography by Xu Xiaomin
Eighty percent of pig breeds are imported, and indigenous pig breeds are on the verge of extinction
China is a big pork consumer, and the overall consumption accounts for about half of the world. Taking the 2019 data as an example, the global pork consumption reached 100.9 million tons in that year, and China's pork consumption was 44.866 million tons, accounting for 49% of the global pork consumption. Among all meat consumption in China, pork consumption accounts for the largest proportion.
However, China's breeding pigs used to breed and eat commercial pigs have long relied on imports. Data show that in 2020, China's total imports of breeding pigs exceeded 20,000 heads, a record high. Professor Chen Yaosheng, chief scientist of the national pig industry technology system, pointed out that 80% of China's commercial pigs come from foreign introductions.
Foreign white pigs
Foreign pig breeds are dominant, and local pig breeds are weak. From 1994 to 2007, China's domestic pig breed market share plummeted from 90% to only 2%, pig breeds from abroad almost completely occupied the table of the Chinese people, and a large number of local pig breeds have become extinct or endangered.
According to the results of the second national survey of livestock and poultry genetic resources, 85% of the 88 local pig breeds in China are rapidly decreasing. Among them, four pig breeds, Xiangcheng pig, Dingxian pig, Longyou black pig and narrow black pig, have been confirmed to be extinct, and more than 30 species are endangered or endangered. The Chenghua pig, which was once known as the "Sichuan Hui pot meat standard", was only about 100 heads in the stock at the lowest time.
Pig breeds are stuck in the neck, and the Chinese pig industry is now in a "breeding-degradation" stalemate
At present, the foreign varieties mainly introduced by China's pig breeding industry are 6 varieties such as Buckshire, Pitland and Hampshire. Among them, the Great White Pig of the United Kingdom, the Long White Pig of Denmark, and the Duroc Pig of the United States are the most popular three-ocean pig breed in the market.
These white pigs abroad have low feeding costs, grow fast, most of them can be out of the pen in half a year, and the price is much cheaper than that of native pigs. The traditional Chinese native pigs are expensive to raise and grow slowly, and can only be released in an average year. In addition, the lean meat proportion of native pigs is only 35%, which is significantly lower than the lean meat proportion of 75% of foreign pigs, so foreign pigs gradually occupy the main stream of pig breeding, and also dominate the people's table.
Top 10 Brands in China's Native Pig Market Chart Source: Journal of Jiangxi Agricultural University, "Current Situation and Prospect of Local Pig Breed Utilization in China"
It is worth noting that imported foreign pigs have a major disadvantage, that is, after breeding for several generations, they are easy to degenerate. But for foreign pig companies, this is a huge advantage. Because breeding pigs continue to degrade, the domestic breeding industry needs to continuously introduce breeds from abroad. At present, the price of a raw breeding pig has reached 20,000 yuan, and China has to import a large number of breeding pigs and pig semen from foreign countries at a high price every year.
In this regard, Professor Chen Yaosheng believes that the domestic demand for pork is huge, and once the supply of foreign breeding pigs is limited, China's pig production will fall into the dilemma of being "stuck in the neck". Going back in time to the last dilemma occurred in 2019. At that time, the pig breeding industry was affected by African swine fever, and the sows used for breeding were stuck in the neck, and many companies could even use the commercial pig generation with an average yield of only six or seven pigs to respond to the emergency, and the price of pigs soared all the way.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="35" > the king of the earth pig to develop the perfect soil pig breed, Chinese eat meat should not look at foreign faces</h1>
In the face of the risk of "stuck neck" of pig breeds, it has become an industry consensus to get rid of the "dependence" of foreign breeding and accelerate the innovation and creation of local breeding pig germplasm resources. In April this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the "National Pig Genetic Improvement Plan (2021-2035)" proposing that by 2035, a sound commercial breeding system will be built, the core breeding rate will remain above 95%, and 3-5 internationally competitive breeding enterprises will be cultivated.
As early as a decade ago, when the market share of local pig breeds plummeted to only 2%, some entrepreneurs who foresaw the problem of pig breed card necks have begun to lay out to save Chinese native pigs. Among them, Chen Sheng, chairman of Guangdong No. 1 Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "No. 1 Food") and known as Peking University Pork Guy, is one of the typical representatives. Recently, he publicly said that it is more difficult to solve the problem of breeding pig neck than chip, Chinese eat meat can not look at the face of foreign countries, for this reason he has been deeply cultivating the protection and revival of China's native pig breed for more than ten years.
No. 1 Earth Pig
In order to cultivate the best quality native pig breed, Chen Sheng took the driver and meat experts, spent several years, from his hometown of Zhanjiang, ran all over most of China, relying on a pot of white water to boil meat to try. From thousands of pigs from all over the country and various breeds, Chen Sheng selected seven or eight kinds of native pigs such as liangguang small flower pigs, Shandong Laiwu pigs, Xiangxi black pigs, and northeast folk pigs, and cross-bred with a small number of foreign high-quality pig breeds to breed "No. 1 earth pigs".
This pig breed not only absorbs the advantages of imported pig breeds, but also takes into account the flavor of native pigs, and also realizes the protection of high-quality native pig genes. At present, the pig breed uses "No. 1 black pig" as the official breed name and declares it to the State Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources Commission. The excellent quality of no. 1 earth pig has also won the love of consumers, successfully occupying the high-end pork market, with annual sales of more than 1.5 billion yuan, and successfully returning the Chinese earth pig to the public vision.
In this regard, some media commented that there are "seeds" in their hands and they are not panicked. To get rid of the "dependence" of foreign introduction, in addition to promoting the formation of joint forces by scientific research institutes and private enterprises, and vigorously promoting the independent innovation of science and technology in the seed industry, it is also necessary to vigorously encourage the public's enthusiasm for consuming native pigs, drive scientific research and innovation with consumption, and firmly grasp the "breeding" of pigs in the hands of Chinese.
Text author: 壹壹壹