A third of major livestock farms in the suburbs of Shanghai will be shut down in two years because municipal authorities say the farms are a source of pollution.

Compensation will be made to minimize losses caused to the farms and employees involved and measures will be taken to guarantee adequate supplies of meat for the local market, said officials.

"Our plan is to close more than 260 stock farms by the end of 2005. The farms are located in areas we have zoned as areas forbidden to rear livestock," said Pu Shiliang, official of the animal husbandry administrative office under the Shanghai Municipal Agricultural Commission.

The areas include those within the city's Outer Ring of elevated highways as well as those near major suburban towns and the upper reaches of Huangpu River, where water source protection is needed.

So far, more than 60 farms have been closed, among which a few were reshaped to accommodate greenery projects.

The closure is not only for the purpose of environmental protection but is in line with the city's animal husbandry planning guidelines, which is to be unveiled in late April, he said.

Farms to be shut down were lacking in environmentally friendly facilities and satisfactory measures to dispose of animal excrement and sewage, which are discharged into local waters - directly or indirectly - resulting in a serious threat to the environment as well as residents.

"We are trying to work out detailed rules of operation to minimize losses to the farms concerned," said Pu.

"We need to be prudent (in handling this issue), especially given that a majority of local stock farms are privately run businesses," he said.

The farm owners will be informed of the closure in advance, and can will a certain amount of money as compensation, which will be calculated after a farm assets evaluation by both city and district governments.

Also, farm owners are being encouraged to relocate their operations, and government is to help involved farm employees, mostly local farmers, to gain new employment.

However, some employees are still concerned about the approaching closure.

"It looks we have to find jobs again by ourselves, and we have no idea what to do then," said a female employee at the Luhui Livestock Farm in Minhang District. The farm of 30-plus employees will be closed next year.

And a yield decrease in local livestock farms seems likely.

Luhui, which has an annual yield volume of 10,000 pigs, including 5,000 earmarked for exports to Hong Kong, is awaiting closure.

The number of pigs in the Minhang District reared at local farms is expected to slump from 400,000 in 2002 to about 80,000 by the end of this year, an official of the district agricultural commission said.

(China Daily April 15, 2004)