A view of a hog farm in Southwest China's Chongqing in January Photo: IC

The State Council, China's cabinet, rolled out a new policy on Tuesday to support the pork industry and ensure stable supply.

The policy focuses on how to ensure resilient supply amid the effects of African Swine Fever (ASF), which has seriously cut hog breeding.

Li Guoxiang, a research fellow at the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday that ASF has reduced China's hog production by 10 million tons or 20 percent of the total. 

The policy aims to make the market play a decisive role in resource allocation, and targets a self-sufficiency rate of 95 percent for hog production. It also aims to make the proportion of large-scale pig farms account for 58 percent of the nation's total hog production by 2022. 

That ratio will be further improved to surpass 65 percent by 2025 and the treatment level for pig waste, a big environmental issue, is set to reach 85 percent by that time. 

Localities will take the responsibility for bolstering hog production with measures that support land use, investment, financing, and quarantine services. Mayors will be tasked with returning hog production and supply to the normal level as soon as possible.

The eligible time for interest deduction on funds used to construct pig farms will be extended to December 31, 2020, according to the State Council policy, which was posted on the Chinese government website on Tuesday. 

Provincial governments have been ordered to fully implement designated subsidies for affected hog producers and banks have been told not to cut loans to hog producers and slaughterhouses.   

China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Monday that one-off subsidies of no more than 5 million yuan ($701,000) will be provided for newly constructed pig farms, expansion projects, and farms above the designated size to stabilize hog production.

The government also suspended toll fees for trucks carrying breeding pigs and frozen pork until July 2020.