Wu Anlu, the owner of the pig breeding base and a local "pig
breeding king," struck the first hammer to demolish his own pig
farm.
Workers at the Zhenghua Pig
Breeding Base of Hujiazhou Village in Nanchang County drove pigs
away from the pig farm in a relocation project on December 22,
2007. [Photo: jxnews.com.cn]
Wu's farm, the largest pig breeding base around the Poyang Lake
was moved from its site on December 22 out of environmental
concerns, the Jiangxi Daily reported. The relocation
project is part of the Jiangxi provincial government's push to
protect the environment of Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater
lake.
The Zhenghua Pig Breeding Base in Nanchang County is located on
an islet in the Poyang Lake. Opened with an investment of 4.8
million yuan in 2005, the farm can turn out 40,000 pigs each
year.
But the government of Jiangxi Province wants to tackle the
environmental problems caused by large-scale pig and fish breeding,
so the pig breeding base must be moved.
According to figures from the provincial environment monitoring
body, the water quality of the Poyang Lake steadily declined from
2002 to 2006. Polluted water discharged from pig farms is a primary
factor affecting the lake's water quality.
The provincial government has allocated 1.3 million yuan in
subsidies to Wu Anlu to reestablish his pig farm inland.
(CRI December 24, 2007)
