[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] It has been revealed that about 2,000 livestock farms raised animals exceeding the permitted standards.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 27th that, as a result of inspecting whether the appropriate number of livestock was exceeded among 9,789 livestock farms nationwide in the first half of this year, 2,011 farms were found to have violated the standards.
This inspection was conducted targeting farms suspected of not complying with the appropriate livestock number standards under the Livestock Act, based on the livestock business permit system and livestock traceability system information, among 121,218 livestock business permit and registered farms nationwide (as of December 2020).
The appropriate rearing area per animal is 10㎡ for Korean native cattle (pasture type), 16.5㎡ for dairy cows (bedding type), 0.8㎡ for fattening pigs, 0.05㎡ for chickens (breeding/laying broilers weighing 39kg), 0.333㎡ for laying ducks, and 0.246㎡ for meat ducks.
In this inspection, 7,778 farms, accounting for 79.5%, normalized according to the appropriate livestock number standards, but 2,011 farms (20.5%) still did not comply with the standards. Among the violating farms, 189 were fined.
By livestock type, the number of violating farms was highest in cattle with 1,627 farms, followed by chickens with 309 farms, pigs with 38 farms, and ducks with 27 farms.
The regions with high violation rates were Daegu (43.2%), Jeju (41.0%), Jeonnam (35.1%), Gyeongbuk (23.5%), Busan (23.1%), and Ulsan (17.2%), in that order.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs plans to form joint on-site inspection teams and conduct direct field inspections in vulnerable areas with many farms violating rearing standards, and will promote strong crackdowns.
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