Regional differences of livestock and poultry breeding output in scale and policy suggestions during 2002-2009 in China

In order to investigate the regional differences of large scale livestock and poultry breeding in China, the standardized pig index from province-level data of Chinese animal industry yearbooks during 2002-2009 was used in present study. Then differences of internal and interval regions of China and their six regions were examined by Theil index method. The results showed that the large scale livestock and poultry breeding ascended during 2002-2009 in general, and the rising trend became more and more significant year by year. Period from 2002 to 2006 was the slow ascending period. During this period, the overall regional differences descended generally. Period from 2007 to 2009 was the rapid ascending period, and the overall regional differences ascended rapidly. During the whole period, the internal region difference was more significant than that of interval region. Meanwhile, based on the regional difference study, the development of large scale livestock and poultry breeding in China and the analysis of contribution rate of differences inside this region, the present research suggests that local governments in the six regions should take different policies for management of the livestock and poultry breeding industry.