The African swine fever epidemic historically increased the importance of breeding pig resources in China. Even after the production capacity recovery and pig cycle down, many farming enterprises choose to update their breeding pigs with the best ones, thus reducing production costs and increasing efficiency.
Recently, the launching ceremony of the AXIOM China nucleus breeding farm was held in Dazu District, Chongqing. This project was invested by Zhu Hengheng Ecological Agriculture Technology (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. As AXIOM’s only nucleus breeding farm outside France, this project has a planned stock of 2,400 GGP sows and a total investment of 77.5 million dollars.
As international breeding was widespread in 2020, France became the largest supplier of breeding pigs for China. Hitting a record high, more than 30,000 breeding pigs were imported, with over 40% coming from France. AXIOM, the leader in breeding pigs in France, successively supplied breeding pigs to many well-known pig companies, including Guangdong Agribusiness Group Corporation, COFCO Jiajiakang and other “national brands” companies in 2020. GGP breeding pigs from AXIOM have exceeded over 10,000 head in China, including those in Charoen Pokphand Group and Haid Group.
Huang Zhiquan
“We are simultaneously breeding with our Chinese partners. In addition, to supply the highest quality of GGP purebred pigs, we also share a database with our partners. Data exchange is done at least once a week,” Huang Zhiquan said.
The goal of the collaboration is to accomplish our Chinese partners the same genetic progress and production performance as farms in France, avoiding short-term degradation and repeated introductions.
AXIOM’s collaboration with Zhu Hengheng goes one step further. According to Huang Zhiquan, the two parties agreed to bear risks and share benefits together. This all-around cooperation includes pig breeding, production management, market sales, etc. It makes Zhu Hengheng a “Breeder” of AXIOM in China.
“Zhu Hengheng’s nucleus farm in Dazu is actually equivalent to one of our farms in Brittany, France, and their positions are the same,” Huang Zhiquan said. “This is unprecedented in China. In short, as long as the Chinese market needs, we will share what we have in France.”
Who is Zhu Hengheng?
For the Chinese pig industry, Zhu Hengheng may sound unfamiliar. This ecological agricultural technology company was founded in 2020 for the Dazu nucleus breeding farm project, and its origins in pig farming go back even earlier.
Li Lizi
Li Lizi, the current general manager of Zhu Hengheng, was previously engaged in the environmental engineering business. He thought of raising pigs when expanding the farm sewage treatment business. After many investigations, he finally established a pig breeding business on the top of the “pig business pyramid”.
The environmental protection business has become essential support for the new project. This “ARES Eco-energy Sewage Treatment System” technology is a national invention patent. Its core principle is to efficiently degrade sewage and sludge by activating the specific microbiota in the sewage.
“Although Zhu Hengheng is new in the animal husbandry, it ‘stands on the shoulders of AXIOM. With ARES and other environmental protection technologies, we can not only provide the best breeding pigs, but also solve the environmental problem of pig farming,” said Li Lizi at the launching ceremony. “We are striving to develop circular economy innovation strategies for animal husbandry in China.”
According to the plan, 2,400 GGP breeding pigs will be airlifted from France to Chongqing in November this year. The project will go into production in February 2023. In the future, it can provide 31,000 purebred pigs and 300,000 doses of boar semen annually. In addition, about 30,000 culled breeding pigs will be sold for fattening each year.
