Xinhua Daily Daily Telegraph reporter Liu Mengni

"I don't want to mention those sad things." When asked about the losses caused by the epidemic, Yang Haihong, a large breeder in Linqing, Shandong, said.

In late January, as the epidemic spread across the country, some localities have adopted compulsory measures and means such as traffic restrictions and road closures to prevent and control the spread of the epidemic. The blockage of traffic has brought severe damage to the poultry breeding industry.

At that time, Yang Haihong buried tens of thousands of broilers.

"Preliminary estimates indicate that from the outbreak of the outbreak to March 15, China ’s major breeds of poultry industry lost more than 15 billion yuan in breeding." Said Gong Guifen, Secretary General of the Poultry Industry Branch of China Animal Husbandry Association.

"Hungry, just feed water without feed"

On February 10, Yang Haihong asked someone to dig a large pit, throw more than 20,000 live chickens into the pit, sprinkle with lime to disinfect it, and then fill it with soil.

That day was the most difficult time for him.

"Since the second day of the second year, feed can't come in. Seeing that stocks are getting scarce, my heart is getting more and more anxious." Yang Haihong talked to reporters about how he decided to "buy chickens."

In the beginning, he chose to gradually reduce the amount of feeding to the chicken. There is really no feed, and I don't know when the epidemic will end. If the feed can be replenished, I can only deal with more than 20,000 broilers.

At the time of the outbreak, there were 60,000 laying hens in Yang Haihong's inventory, and they also needed feed. The approach he took was to force them to moult.

The so-called forced moulting means "get hungry and only feed water without feed". In this way, laying hens will stop laying eggs, lose weight, and fall off feathers. After insisting for half a month, re-feed the laying hens and gradually increase the feed. After another half a month, the chickens will slowly grow new feathers and enter the next egg production peak.

"Now chickens are usually not forced to moult. I was unable to buy feed at that time. Moreover, even if I managed to get the feed, the eggs could not be shipped out, and they were still difficult to sell. I still lost money." Yang Haihong sighed.

He had to use forced moulting to stop the chicken from consuming feed and laying eggs for a while. As the broiler cannot force the moult, it can only be buried with pain.

In the same dilemma, Ding Tinghui, a large breeder in Hubei, chose to reduce the feed for laying hens. "I know forced moulting, but I haven't done it, and I'm worried that it won't work well."

Ding Tinghui raised 18,000 laying hens and consumed 3600 kg of feed a day. During that time, the feed was reduced to 2,000 kg, and only half-full was fed. "I thought, thank goodness for keeping the chicken alive."

After the feed was reduced, the egg production rate decreased. Even so, due to traffic restrictions, these eggs have not been sold and can only be piled in the warehouse.

"A lot of the eggs that were laid after the Spring Festival and after the Spring Festival have now been put out," Ding Tinghui said with a bitter smile, because of the epidemic, he lost a lot of money.

In Yang Haihong's opinion, the biggest damage was to broiler farmers. He told reporters that in the second half of last year, the price of pork rose, bringing the price of chickens and ducks. Farmers who invested in raising chickens and ducks all at once.

"After New Year's Day, the number of chickens on the market has increased significantly, and prices have started to fall. Many people have pinned their hopes on the New Year, and hope to sell a good price during or after the Spring Festival." In time, chickens can't sell anymore.

"Now open the trunk, there is still a smell of chicken feces"

During the epidemic, farmers are helping themselves in various ways. Toda Maocai, a broiler breeder in Dezhou, Shandong, began selling chickens on WeChat in mid-February. It took half a month to sell over 4,000 of his own chickens.

"It's also a cheap sale." Tian Mao just settled the account with the reporter. After raising chickens and selling chickens, after two or three months of hard work, he still lost more than 10,000 yuan.

"The chickens were sold for more than ten days. It was very hard. I got up at 5 in the morning and rested at 11 in the evening." Tian Maocai spent all his energy with his wife and son.

He also invited several relatives and friends to help, one bloodletting, one hot chicken feathers, one hair removal chicken, and two responsible for hair removal.

Tian Maocai and his son drove the chickens to the buyer every day. "The trunk of my son's car and I now have chicken feces as soon as I open it."

Talking about his peers with more serious losses, Tian Mao felt that he was lucky. "When I was selling chicken in a circle of friends, I called a Henan man selling chicken medicine and said that the market is closed here and the chicken is not easy to sell."

"Unexpectedly, he said that his side was even worse. Road closures could not get in, and chickens could not be sold. Some of the farmers’ chickens were starved to death, and some of them directly dug pits to bury the chickens. "Tian Maocai said.

In Gong Guifen's view, the epidemic has a greater impact on economic and social operations, with losses in various industries. The poultry farming industry has been hit hard, and it is related to the improper control of live poultry transportation and live poultry trading in many places.

"Many member companies have reported to us that because of the disruption in the transportation of production materials and products such as feed, chicks, eggs, and poultry, some companies destroyed the chicks and chickens, and some stopped production and incubation, and the losses were very heavy." Fen said.

On January 30, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued an emergency notice prohibiting illegal acts such as setting up a card to block or cut off traffic without approval, and maintaining the normal circulation order of "vegetable basket" products and agricultural production materials.

"After the three departments issued the notice, the company's vehicles for transporting feed finally got the green pass. However, it can only be driven on national and provincial roads, and the towns and villages still can't enter. They can only let farmers raise their own means." Gao Aiwen, who works for a feed company, told reporters.

I have been losing money until now

Recently, with the improvement of the epidemic situation, transportation around the country has also gradually resumed, but the breeding industry, which has hurt its vitality, still faces various difficulties.

"Affected by the epidemic situation, the production of poultry was out of order for a time, poultry meat and eggs were stagnant, poultry meat processing sales plummeted, and poultry product prices were sluggish. The whole industry fell to a trough in 1-2 weeks after the Spring Festival." Gong Guifen Say.

She believes that the poultry industry is gradually recovering, "but in the short term, the price of eggs is slowly recovering and the price of chicken is relatively weak."

"We are here to respond to the national policy early, and feed carts can come in," said Wang Yuyan, a chicken professional household in Yongxing Village, Nantong, Jiangsu. Even so, he has lost a lot since the outbreak.

The Wang Yuyan couple raised more than 10,000 egg ducks. "After the Spring Festival, the price of duck eggs has been falling, and now they have returned to the break-even point. They have been losing money before."

"Now the entire market has a particularly small digestion capacity. Many of our eggs are sold to unit canteens. The factory is not open, schools are not open, and demand is not up. Many egg recipients who have cooperated before are still at home." According to Wang Yuyan, Without complete resumption of work and production, the sales of duck eggs are difficult to get up.

Zhang Yanzhu, a farmer in Jinan, Shandong, also believes that some schools and units have not returned to normal, resulting in less egg consumption and lower prices.

Zhang Yanzhu raised more than 100,000 laying hens. "Last year, the market was good, and the profit was okay. This year, the whole month was a loss of 100,000."

Zhang Yanzhu said that before the Spring Festival, the wholesale price of eggs was still more than 3 yuan per catty. By the fifteenth day of the first month, it had fallen to two yuan, and then slowly rose back to two yuan, and now it has risen to three yuan, which is finally enough for the price.

"At present, the eggs on my side are still not easy to sell." Ding Tinghui was in Jingzhou, Hubei. The local farmer's market had not been opened, traffic had not been fully restored, and eggs were still in poor circulation.

Ding Tinghui's 9,000 chickens have already passed the peak egg production period. "I want to sell them as soon as possible, and I keep losing money for raising them." But now it is impossible, the slaughterhouse of the farmers' market has not been opened yet.

"Even if it is opened, the price is expected to be very low in a short period of time," said Ding Tinghui. The breeding market here has not been open for almost two months, and there is so much backlog in stocks. If the market is flooded into the market, the price will certainly be suppressed.

In addition, the epidemic has also caused "discrimination" in Hubei eggs. "Hubei is a big breeding province. Before that, some eggs were sold to Guangdong and Hunan. Now, because of the epidemic, they do not want any more eggs from Hubei." Ding Tinghui was helpless.

He told reporters that the dealer originally wanted to change the outer packaging of eggs and remove the words related to Hubei, but now the carton factory has not started.

In addition to lower egg prices and rising feed prices after the holidays, farmers also feel "stressful". "I don't know if it is related to the epidemic abroad. The price of imported soybean meal has soared, and the price of one ton has risen from 2,900 yuan to about 3,400." Wang Yuyan said.

"The price of feed ingredients has risen sharply, and the price is still high." Li Junmin, a farmer in Heze, Shandong, said that he had raised hundreds of pigs, hundreds of chickens, and more than 100 geese. He had already decided to lose money. Remove chickens and geese as soon as possible and concentrate on raising pigs.

Still optimistic about the market in the second half of the year

People in the industry have called for the current epidemic situation to have severely affected the poultry industry in our country, coupled with the industry's poor ability to withstand market risks, and hope that the country will provide policy support to promote the industry to go out of the trough as soon as possible to ensure the meat market supply in 2020.

The first is to implement financial subsidies for poultry enterprises. Special support will be given to fixed-investment projects for poultry production, with appropriate reduction and exemption of taxes and fees on poultry enterprise income tax, as well as support for fund policies such as loans to farmers.

The second is to establish a temporary collection and storage system for poultry meat. At present, slaughtering enterprises' poultry products are unsaleable. It is suggested that the government should collect and store the currently unsaleable poultry products, which can be used in the next quarter to ensure market supply.

The third is to keep the live bird trading market. During the period of epidemic prevention and control, market supervision departments in many places implemented a "double ban" measure, that is, "prohibition of live market poultry trading, and prohibition of market live poultry slaughter."

Authorities have confirmed that the outbreak has nothing to do with live bird trading. 80% of China ’s yellow feather broilers are sold for live poultry, and a complete ban on live poultry trading will cause a fatal blow to the industry.

"In the downturn of the industry, it is an opportunity for enterprises," said Gong Guifen. As long as it persists, after the market consumption is fully restored, it will certainly usher in better development.

The China Animal Husbandry Association ’s Poultry Industry Association predicts that in the second half of the year, under the influence of multiple factors such as restorative consumption and the “double knot effect”, egg prices are expected to rise moderately, and chicken prices will also be better than in the first half.

Yang Haihong has enjoyed the care of the policy. Recently, through the government coordination, his breeding company has loaned 2.9 million yuan and has been allocated to the breeding business.

Talking about the losses caused by the epidemic, although he is distressed, he still has confidence in the future. "I have raised chickens for more than 20 years. This setback is nothing. I am very optimistic about the market in the second half of the year."

Not every farmer is as lucky as Yang Haihong. Some people bluntly say that the local government does not have to ask for trouble. It is afraid of the wind and rain. It is not right to do this, then it is not right to do so.

Tian Maocai, who claims to be "little", is also confused: "I have been raising chickens for almost 20 years. Who cares about you and gives you support?"

Only then did Tian Mao decide to follow suit and "look at the market" before deciding whether to continue to invest in the breeding industry.

(At the request of the interviewees, Tian Maocai, Wang Yuyan, and Li Junmin were aliased)