Geneticists from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences reportedly said the new variety was faster growing, leaner and more resistant to diseases than mainstream imported varieties.
The Ransi pig is the result of 14 years of trials involving more than 2,000 pigs of mainstream breeds originating from the United States and the United Kingdom, and was recently approved for commercial use by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
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Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?
Why is the Chinese government so concerned about food security?
Through long-term testing and analysis, the researchers have developed software and a database that will help speed up the breeding process in the future, said team leader Li Kui.
“[We will] “We want to continue breeding, improve characteristics such as meat quality, broaden the uses and increase the market share of Chinese pigs,” he said.
Feng Yonghui, chief analyst at industry website Soozhu, said the lab results still had to pass the rigorous test of the public market.
“It all comes down to whether pigs are competitive in terms of overall economic benefit,” he said.
Chinese pigs tend to have higher fat content, less lean meat and a slower growth rate than their Western counterparts, and farmers began introducing foreign breeds in the 1980s.
This is the staple food we must protect with our own hands Feng Yonghui
Since then, China's pig industry has been “caught in a vicious cycle of adoption, degeneration and adoption”, Feng said, with industry players, most of whom are small, ignoring new technologies and methods.
Pork has long been the most common source of protein for the country's 1.4 billion people, making it the world's largest meat market.
China produced about 58 million tonnes of pork last year, half the world's total, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Despite a downward trend in recent decades, pork still accounts for a high proportion of China's total meat consumption, at more than 50%, said Feng, the industry analyst.
“This is a staple food that we have to take into our own hands. Pig farming is like the chip in pig production, it's at the core of the production system,” he said.
Breeding for superior traits – the process of producing unique, marketable livestock breeds – overlaps with the Chinese government's efforts to revitalize its seed industry.
In its Livestock and Poultry Plan 2021-2035, the country has pledged to achieve self-sufficiency in key livestock products, measured by the proportion of genetic sequences originating from domestic livestock production, of more than 95 percent by 2035.
Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture said the figure was already over 75 percent.
