Study On Treatment Behavior And Influencing Factors Of Diseased Pigs In Scattered-farmers

Since the impact of the African swine plague in 2018-2021,a large number of diseased pigs had emerged.In order to reduce losses,farmers had frequently introduced diseased pigs into the market and discarded them at will,triggering concerns among the general public about pork food safety and rural environmental sanitation.Therefore,there is an urgent need to curb the inflow of diseased pigs into the market from the source,regulate the treatment behavior of diseased pigs,thereby reducing the risk of swine plague prevention and control in Africa,and improving the level of harmless treatment of diseased pigs.This will have important significance in reducing the difficulty of rural environmental governance and preventing pork food safety risks.Based on the field survey data of 420 pig free-range households in the main pig production area,this paper first uses statistical analysis to make descriptive statistics on the demographic characteristics,production and management characteristics,social cognitive characteristics,and external environment of the free-range pig households,and the treatment behavior of three different types of diseased pigs: diseased piglets,diseased sows,and diseased finishing pigs.The statistical analysis shows that diseased piglets tend to be discarded and deeply buried,The diseased sows tend to be deeply buried,and the treatment behaviors of diseased finishing pigs vary greatly.After that,taking the disposal behavior selection of pigs with four kinds of diseases,such as selling,discarding,eating,and burying,as the observation variables,the factors affecting the disposal behavior selection of pigs with diseases in free-range pig households were empirically analyzed from the four characteristic dimensions of free-range pig households using the multivariate disordered logistic model.The main research conclusions are as follows:(1)There are significant differences in the treatment behavior of scattered-farmers for three types of diseased pigs: piglets,fattening pigs,and sows.Disease piglets tend to be discarded and deeply buried,while disease sows tend to be deeply buried.The treatment behaviors of diseased finishing pigs are the most diverse,with performance in four types of treatment behaviors: selling,discarding,eating,and deeply burying.(2)Factors such as the type of breeding decision-making,profit-seeking,loss aversion,and insufficient social awareness within pig scattered-farmers as well as weak external policy coordination and regulatory efforts,are the main reasons for the occurrence of non-standard treatment of local diseased and fattened pigs.Specifically,it is manifested as the type of decision-making made by non farm households,the higher their household income,the higher their aversion to fines,the better their understanding of policies and regulations for treating diseased pigs,and the more likely they are to bury and treat diseased and fattened pigs in a deep manner;The higher the return rate of breeding,the more the number of pigs raised,the greater the proportion of diseased fattening pigs,the greater the proportion of pig income,the imperfect insurance policies for live pigs,and the incomplete guidance for epidemic inspection,the more likely live pig breeders are to sell diseased fattening pigs;Non farm households who are the main decision type of pig breeders also tend to choose to discard diseased pigs for fattening;The high return rate of breeding,the significant proportion of diseased fattening pigs,the lack of on-site buyers,and imperfect insurance policies make pig free range farmers more inclined to choose to consume diseased fattening pigs.Main policy recommendations: Strengthen the promotion and implementation of policies and regulations,as well as breeding training guidance,implement classified policies,innovate the regulatory mechanism for the market of diseased livestock,build a collaborative and integrated traceability system for live pigs,improve rural community animal husbandry management,etc.,which can effectively promote the harmless treatment of diseased pigs by scattered-farmers.