Status, evaluation, and influencing factors of biosecurity levels in pig farms in China.

BACKGROUND: Animal diseases have always been a serious threat to livestock breeding, and the establishment of a biosecurity barrier is important for disease prevention and control. Based on the investigations conducted in seven provinces located farms, this study aimed to explore the current biosecurity levels of farms in China, construct a biosecurity evaluation system, calculate the biosecurity levels of farms using the rank sum ratio comprehensive evaluation method, and develop an empirical analysis of the factors influencing biosecurity levels. RESULTS: The results show that the greater the cost of biosecurity invested, the greater the level of biosecurity. Male farmers, educational attainment and participation in technical training had a significant positive effect on biosecurity levels. In addition, biosecurity levels first decreased and then increased as the scale of farming increased. The study also found that the more people in the household engaged in farming, the higher the biosecurity level of the farm. And farms that joined cooperatives had higher levels of biosecurity. CONCLUSION: The rank sum ratio method can evaluate the index system, so as to obtain a comprehensive index RSR value that can be compared, and the operation steps are simple and effective. By taking measures such as improving the comprehensive quality of farmers and increasing the investment in human, material and financial resources for biosecurity, the biosecurity level of farms can be effectively improved and animal diseases can be effectively prevented and controlled.

African Swine Fever Shock: China's Hog Industry's Resilience and Its Influencing Factors.

African swine fever has damaged the foundation of China's hog industry, caused a serious decline in hog production, highlighted the contradiction between supply and demand in the pork market, and led to major economic and social impacts. The industrial resilience of 31 Chinese provinces to African swine fever shock and its spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics from 2018 to 2021 were measured in this study from the two dimensions of resistance and recoverability. Using Geodetector, the key factors influencing the resilience of China's hog industry were explored. The results showed that 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 represented the resistance and recovery periods of the hog industry under African swine fever shock, respectively, with poor resilience characterizing the resistance period and improved resilience characterizing the recovery period. At the early stages of the African swine fever outbreak, the hog industries in Tianjin, Shanxi, Guangxi, and Yunnan had robust resistance due to the slaughter rate, economic level, mortality rate, carcass weight, and culling rate in those areas. At the most severe stage of the outbreak, resistance was generally poor in all provinces due to the slaughter rate, per capita consumption, and scale level at the time. During the period of rapid recovery in hog production, the recoverability of each province was very strong due to the industrial structure, culling rate, economic level, and resource carrying capacity at that time. During the reasonable adjustment period of hog production capacity, the recoverability based on the breeding sow inventory in 13 provinces, including Henan, Shandong, and other large hog-breeding provinces, was negative due to the scale level, slaughter rate, per capita consumption, and resource carrying at that time. Taking measures to enhance the resilience of the hog industry, strengthen the prevention and control of hog epidemics, improve the monitoring and early warning mechanisms, and enhance the ability of the hog industry to cope with major animal epidemics is recommended.

Risk Assessment and Response Strategy for Pig Epidemics in China.

Strengthening the analysis and risk assessment of the pig epidemic will help to better prevent and mitigate epidemic risks and promote the high-quality development of the pig industry. Based on a systematic understanding of live pig epidemics, a risk assessment index system was constructed, and the spatial and temporal variation characteristics of pig epidemics in China were explored by the entropy method. In recent years, the overall trend in pig epidemics over time first increased and then decreased; in space, the acceleration of the spread of epidemics across the country weakened. China still faces challenges, including many types and a wide range of diseases, large total livestock breeding and weak epidemic prevention and control capacity, and a large risk of introduced foreign animal epidemics. The spatial and temporal variations in the pig epidemic risk were obvious; one high-risk area, two medium-high-risk areas and 10 medium-risk areas have been found in recent years, during which time, the epidemic risk was highest in Beijing, Hainan, Liaoning, Tibet and Zhejiang. However, there were significant differences in the regional distribution of the risk level of pig epidemics in different years. To further build a secure "defense system" for the high-quality development of the pig industry, it is recommended to improve the monitoring and early warning system of pig epidemic risk, perfect the pig epidemic prevention and control system, and strengthen the regional collaboration mechanism of epidemic prevention and control.