Academician “Sets Sail” | He’s Transforming the World’s Vegetable Basket—Starting with Raising a Healthy Pig

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the proposal of the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind and the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past decade, China has been building a “development belt” that benefits the world and a “road to happiness” that brings prosperity to people across nations—and Hunan’s people have never been absent from this endeavor. Academicians in the agriculture and forestry fields who work and live in Changsha, leveraging their own expertise and industrial strengths, have pioneered development models for Changsha’s engagement with the Belt and Road Initiative, leaving an indelible mark that vividly embodies Hunan’s contribution. The Changsha Channel of the Hunan Daily·Xin Hunan client has successively launched the integrated media report series “Academicians ‘Go Global’,” documenting the journey of several academicians based in Changsha as they promote their technologies and industries to the world, and showcasing the vigorous momentum of Changsha’s high-quality, open economic development.

 

[Editor]

Reporter Wang Qian, Hunan Daily·Xin Hunan Client; Correspondent Yuan Hang

 

Business card — Yin Yulong, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, animal nutritionist, and Chief Researcher at the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has long been engaged in research on pig nutrition, metabolism, and regulation, and has developed an ecological pig farming technology system. He has received numerous awards, including the National Natural Science Award and the National Science and Technology Progress Award. Academician Yin Yulong’s technologies are now being promoted along the Belt and Road Initiative; he has established Southeast Asia’s largest beef semen bank in Laos and bred a new breed of Lancang Black pigs, thereby boosting border trade and helping farmers in border regions increase their incomes.

 

Beef cattle, black pigs, goats, and high-efficiency, eco-friendly feed—these are the key words behind the technological achievements of Academician Yin Yulong’s team “going global,” and they also serve as the “magic formula” for helping countries along the Belt and Road develop their livestock industries and boost farmers’ incomes.

 

Recently, during interviews, reporters learned that some cross-border technology projects led by Academician Yin Yulong—aligned with the principles of the Belt and Road Initiative—are embarking on a new journey to benefit people in foreign countries.

 

  Raising cattle overseas: High-quality calves could generate annual revenues exceeding 10 million U.S. dollars.

 

On April 28, 2021, the first batch of beef cattle destined for slaughter from Laos—originating from a foot-and-mouth disease-free quarantine facility in Nam Tha Province, Laos—was transported to the Mengman Port Quarantine Facility in Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province, where they underwent the prescribed slaughtering procedures before being exported to China. Phet Phomphiphat, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of Laos, stated, “In the future, Laos will invest 1 billion U.S. dollars to build a beef cattle breeding system, with the goal of boosting exports of 500,000 head of beef cattle to China.”

 

 

The China-Laos beef cattle trade has made substantial progress, and Xu Guowu, head of Hunan Xuanye Ecological Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., is extremely pleased. As early as 2020, the company’s “raising cattle overseas” plan was put on the agenda. On the one hand, domestic demand for beef has surged dramatically, spurring a trend toward modernized beef cattle farming in several Southeast Asian countries. On the other hand, in line with the country’s Belt and Road Initiative, the company has leveraged its earlier advantage of “going global” to extend and upgrade its industrial chain. “We specifically invited Academician Yin Yulong to serve as our chief technical advisor, leading the China-Laos superior breed beef cattle project,” said Xu Guowu.

 

The Jiangcheng Yellow Cattle is a local breed raised within Jiangcheng County, Yunnan Province, and is also raised along the border with Laos. However, this breed faces challenges such as genetic impurity, breed degradation, and slow growth rates. To purify and strengthen the Jiangcheng Yellow Cattle breed, Academician Yin Yulong and his research team have been conducting intensive scientific research and have already achieved preliminary results. It is expected that by July of this year, the Jiangcheng Yellow Cattle Germplasm Resource Conservation and Development Base will be completed. At that time, the base will house 3,000 breeding bulls and cows, and beef cattle farming is projected to expand to 200,000 head, with potential for outreach to several Southeast Asian countries including Laos.

 

Furthermore, with the technical support of Academician Yin Yulong, the largest beef-sperm bank in Southeast Asia has been established in Laos, helping to bring about a qualitative leap in the quality of Lao beef cattle within just 4 to 5 years. The average body weight of these cattle is expected to double, reaching between 300 and 350 kilograms; over an eight-year period, their average body weight could rise to over 500 kilograms.

 

Xu Guowu worked out the math for the reporter: “Based on a conservative estimate of 50,000 head of beef cattle traded annually between China and Laos, revenue from introducing new breeds could exceed US$1 million each year. Once the quality of the beef cattle improves, the annual revenue from selling high-quality calves could easily reach over US$10 million.”

 

Lancang Black Pig to Radiate the Pig Industry in Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam in the Future

 

Like China, countries such as Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam also have the custom of raising black pigs. The black pork from these countries boasts excellent meat quality and strong disease resistance and stress tolerance. However, it has some drawbacks: low litter size, a long reproductive cycle, and slow growth rate.

 

In Academician Yin Yulong’s research plan, there is a scientific project on the “Lancang Black Pig,” dedicated to developing a new breed of black pig that grows rapidly, boasts superior meat quality, exhibits strong stress resistance, and demonstrates excellent adaptability. To cultivate this new breed, in 2022 alone, Academician Yin Yulong traveled to Lancang County, Yunnan Province, nine times to carry out research on “Lancang Black Pig Selection and Application.” His footprints can be found everywhere—on local experimental bases, support sites, and livestock farms.

 

 

“My students spend at least 100 days each year on pig farms, raising two batches of pigs. Doctoral students, on the other hand, are required to raise four batches—this is a basic requirement,” said Yin Yulong. He added that every member of his team is a master pig farmer.

 

With the support of these top-tier “brains,” the “Lancang Black Pig” project has achieved remarkable progress. On November 10, 2022, a team of experts from across the country gathered at the Wangfeng Slaughterhouse in Lancang County to conduct slaughter and measurement tests on the first batch of hybrid pigs bred under the “Lancang Black Pig” project. The results lived up to expectations: the superior hybrid combinations of the “Lancang Black Pig” not only retained their original flavor but also demonstrated breakthroughs in multiple performance indicators. In particular, their growth performance doubled compared to that of the Diannan Small-Ear Pig—reaching market weight in just 176 days, with an average daily gain of 698 grams, a feed-to-meat ratio of 3.12, and a litter size ranging from 10 to 12 piglets per sow. Moreover, the lean meat percentage reached as high as 61.15%.

 

“In the next three to five years, we expect to develop a new breed of Lancang Black Pig, which will greatly benefit border farmers by boosting their incomes and enhancing cross-border trade. We’ve also transformed ourselves from an ordinary pig farming company into a technology-driven, innovation-oriented enterprise,” said Ma Kaixiang, head of Lancang Makai Agricultural and Pastoral Company. The company plans to gradually build an integrated “one-stop” industrial chain covering feed production, breeding, fattening, slaughtering, and processing—creating a complete, standardized, and fully traceable value chain that spans everything from breeding and raising pigs to sophisticated processing. This chain will also extend its influence to the black pig farming industries in neighboring countries such as Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam.

 

High-end feed exports: “Made in Hunan” high-tech products are heading to multiple countries.

 

"Hunan Baiyi Technology Group Co., Ltd. has officially dispatched its high-quality feed exports to Laos!" On the morning of March 22, accompanied by a loud departure signal at the site, 48 tons of premium premixes were shipped from Yunnan to Laos.

 

 

Luo Wenfeng, Chairman of Hunan Baiyi, said: “Exporting animal feed is a major challenge. Feed products themselves have low added value and a limited shelf life, with a typical sales radius of no more than 300 kilometers. By collaborating with the team led by Academician Yin Yulong and taking into account the specific nutritional needs of pigs as well as the digestibility and utilization rate of feed ingredients, we’ve developed a high-end, pollution-free feed formula, thereby achieving a new breakthrough in feed production.”

 

What makes this feed so special? According to Du Sailong, CEO of the company, the highly efficient, environmentally friendly, and safe pig feed developed by Yin Yulong’s team truly contains neither growth-promoting additives nor antibiotics. It can significantly enhance the immune system of livestock and poultry, offering protection against diseases such as avian influenza and foot-and-mouth disease. Moreover, it can shorten the time required for pigs to reach market weight and effectively reduce mortality rates.

 

Since the beginning of this year, “Hunan Baiyi” has been steadily entering international markets by leveraging this highly efficient, environmentally friendly, and safe pig feed. According to statistics, the company has already exported 48 tons to Laos, 56 tons to Kazakhstan, and 72 tons to Myanmar. Moreover, its sales in Nigeria have reached as much as 110 tons.

 

 

Author: Wang Qian, Correspondent: Yuan Hang

Editor-in-charge: Feng Hao

First instance: Feng Hao

Second Instance: Zhang Fufang

Third Review: Zhou Xiaolei

Source: Hunan Daily · Xin Hunan Client

Produced by/Changsha Branch of Hunan Daily News Agency, Xin Hunan Changsha Channel

Chief Planner / Zhou Tao

Execution Planning / Tan Deng, Zhou Xiaolei, Teng Bin

Written by: Wang Qian, Yuan Hang

Video Editing / Fan Yuanzhi

Editor-in-charge/Tan Deng, Feng Hao