CHINA, the world's biggest meat consumer, will extend subsidies to large-scale producers of hogs, chickens and milk this year as part of its measures to boost food supplies and control inflation.
Qualified hog or chicken breeders may get as much as one million yuan (US$143,000) each in financial assistance, while each milk-producing district may get as much as 1.5 million yuan, the National Development and Reform Commission said in two statements on its Website yesterday.
Inflation in China soared to 8.7 percent in February, as the worst snowstorms in half a century helped raise costs of meat and other food items, Bloomberg News said.
The government has targeted support to large producers to reduce the risk of disruptions to supplies from individual farmers with smaller less stable operations.
The country will "assist breeders and standardized large-scale farms with their expansion, especially those damaged by the snowstorms this year," said the commission, the country's planning agency.
Hog raisers with annual output of more than 3,000 head may also receive 800,000 yuan from the central government, the commission said.