Coronavirus / Chinese provinces offer cash to farmers to give up wildlife trade

Bijing: China is offering to cash to farmers to wean them off breeding exotic and wild animals as global pressure grows on the country to stop illegal trade in wildlife blamed for the ongoing pandemic.

Trade in wildlife is a multi-billion dollar industry in China but authorities have cracked down on it after the outbreak was connected to seafood and meat market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, which also allowed trade in wildlife.

According to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, the central Chinese province of Hunan said last week the local government would compensate those who quit breeding wildlife for trade and food.

They would be encouraged to raise other animals, the government said.

It was the first province to introduce such a policy, and under the scheme farmers will be paid 120 yuan (US$17) for each kilogram of snakes or 75 yuan for bamboo rats they handed over, the newspaper reported.

Each porcupine or civet, a catlike species previously linked to the sever acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic in the early 2000s, will bring a payout of about 600 yuan (US$84),” it added.

Neighbouring Jiangxi province has also released documents on plans to help farmers dispose of animals and financial aid.

The state-run Jiangxi Daily newspaper reported last week that the province has more than 2300 licensed breeders, mostly rearing wild animals for food.

“Their animals are worth about 1.6 billion yuan ($225 million),” the report, quoted by AFP, said.

On February 24, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, or China’s top legislature, adopted a decision on thoroughly banning the illegal trading of wildlife and eliminating the consumption of wild animals to safeguard people’s lives and health.

The same week it was announced that the government had stepped up oversight of illegal wildlife trade via e-commerce platforms.

“More than 750,000 pieces of information about wildlife trade were removed or blocked from major e-commerce platforms while 17,000 online stores or accounts were closed,” Liang Aifu, an official with the State Administration for Market Regulation, was quoted as saying by the state media.