As a political advisor, Jia is unabashed in pinpointing the weak links in the country's animal disease control, and the areas for improvement in the coming years: The small-scale, stock-breeding of poultry by rural households, often in their back yards; and the live poultry markets under slack regulation in the countryside and suburbs, which will pose threats to human and animal safety.

The CPPCC's charter stipulates its major functions are to conduct political consultation, exercise democratic supervision, and organize its members to take part in the discussion and management of State affairs.

"I like the platform where people speak their minds on issues pertaining to the national economy and the livelihood of the people," Jia said.

"If everything goes well, I'll have a five-year term in the CPPCC, get accustomed to the way it works, and unleash what I have left in me."

Now, without the shackles of an office routine, Jia said he would also like to travel to the grasslands, such as the Inner Mongolia autonomous region where he worked in the 1970s.

"People are worried about soil erosion and desertification in grasslands, some suggest inducing artificial rainfall to help reverse the dire trend, but what is the most viable solution? This is what I want to find out."

Jia said he will come up with proposals that include the curbing of over-grazing. All he needs is more time and field work, which he said a CPPCC membership will offer, to produce a convincing report.

Another advantage of being a political advisor is that one can speak and be heard as a "neutral" party, he said.

In a recent panel discussion, Jia said the country must improve its pork-reserve system to help cushion the impact of dramatic meat price fluctuations, which is a contributor to inflationary pressure.

"I'm not speaking for either the Ministry of Agriculture or the Ministry of Commerce, and so far as I know, the government has given the go-ahead for it."

Jia asked the government to use the 8 million-ton capacity refrigerators of the country's meat processors to store frozen pork. This will save investment in building facilities.

China's pork consumption is over 4 million tons a month. The reserve system will allow authorities to stockpile 500,000 tons in case of emergencies, he said.

(China Daily March 11, 2008)