Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua called for efforts to stabilize hog production and prices, as well as ensure pork supply.

Hu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks on Aug 30 in Beijing at a teleconference.

Local authorities should scrap bans and limits on hog rearing except those stipulated in laws and regulations, and implement favorable financial and land-use policies to support farmers, he said.

Modern farming, circulation, and epidemic-prevention systems should be established and standardized, and large-scale farming should be promoted for the development of the hog industry, Hu said.

Grassroots epidemic-prevention teams must be put in place, because their role in disease prevention and control is essential, he said.

He also called for efforts to strengthen market monitoring, a crackdown on illegal pork hoarding, and increased frozen pork reserves to ensure pork supply.

Measures must be taken to prevent and control African swine fever, he said.

Departments should implement the epidemic-reporting system, punish the trafficking and butchering of dead and sick pigs, and strengthen supervision on key links of disease prevention, Hu said.