Criminal gangs in China are faking outbreaks of African swine fever on disease-free farms and forcing farmers to sell their healthy pigs at lower prices, the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday.
Criminals are taking advantage of a highly contagious disease that has spread across much of the country and disrupted the world's largest pork market.
The fraud involves positioning dead pigs on farms and spreading rumors that these farms are infected with African swine fever, which is often fatal to pigs but harmless to humans.
The gangs pressure farmers to sell their pigs at lower prices, violating farmers' rights and affecting normal pig production, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement.
The ministry did not provide further details, but demanded that anyone who witnesses such activities alert authorities.
“All localities must be vigilant and actively protect themselves against this,” he said.
Up to half of China's breeding pigs have died from African swine fever or been culled due to the spread of the disease, twice as many as are officially recognised, Reuters reported last month.
Post: Marina Carvejani
Author: Tom Daly
Source: Notícias Agrícolas
