China fights animal disease spread in quake areas
Pastor Dale Morgan
*China fights animal disease spread in quake areas*
17 May 2008 13:52:07 GMT
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, May 17 (Reuters) - An earthquake that killed at least 29,000
people in China also badly hurt livestock and crops in Sichuan province,
and disinfection teams are spreading out to prevent more damage,
officials said on Saturday.
The earthquake killed about 792,000 of Sichuan's estimated 60 million
pigs, Li Jinxiang, head of the veterinary department at the Ministry of
Agriculture, told reporters.
However, the number of breeding sows nationwide is up on last year,
which could help stave off inflation, he told Reuters.
Rescue work is still going on for thousands buried in rubble after the
May 12 quake, but with bodies in mass graves and water supplies
disrupted, efforts now also include disinfection campaigns to prevent
disease spreading among animals and people.
Poultry made up most of the 12.5 million birds and livestock killed by
Monday's quake.
The quake has damaged infrastructure just ahead of the hot, humid
summer, the peak season for diseases such as swine flu or blue ear pig
disease, which decimated the hog population in 2007.
"Preventing disease is one of our largest responsibilities," Li said at
a news conference in Beijing.
Li told Reuters the breeding sow population was now about 20 percent
more nationwide than it was this time last year, when disease and poor
profits discouraged breeding, helping to feed inflation which is now
running at a nearly 12-year high.
The quake badly damaged fish farms and about 15 percent of vegetable
production in the afflicted areas near the epicentre, the officials
said. As many as 50,000 greenhouses were damaged.
Sichuan accounts for nearly 15 percent of China's rapeseed production,
nearly 7 percent of summer grains and 5 percent of vegetables.
Although a national surplus of fertiliser should be able to make up for
fertiliser plants damaged in industrial towns such as Shifang, damage to
irrigation infrastructure would be harder to overcome, the officials
said. Sichuan is releasing water from reservoirs to reduce pressure on
weakened dams.
"Some rice paddies may have to be turned into dry fields this summer,"
said Wei Chaoan, vice minister of agriculture.
"Maybe, as this develops, many other problems will appear, including
some we don't know about yet." (Reporting by Lucy Hornby; editing by
Philippa Fletcher)