National policy system construction and regional practice exploration of resource utilization of livestock and poultry manure

Livestock and poultry manure is one of the main wastes in the field of agricultural production, with an annual output of about 3.83 billion tons. Its resource utilization level is directly related to the green transformation of animal husbandry, the improvement of ecological environment quality, and the implementation of rural revitalization strategies. After the top-level design documents were issued at the national level in 2017, various provinces (regions, cities) actively responded, combined with the characteristics of regional agricultural development, gradually formulated and improved local supporting policies, and gradually built a policy system of "national coordination, local refinement, classified promotion, and coordinated efforts", laying a solid institutional guarantee for the resource utilization of livestock and poultry manure and promoting the development of planting and breeding cycles.
Summary Table of Core Policy Content in Different Provinces (Regions) Nationwide
Core content of the province: Yunnan focuses on supporting the collection, storage, transportation, and return of manure to the field. Fujian promotes the upgrading of facilities throughout the county, Jilin subsidizes manure treatment facilities and biogas projects, conducts technical training for farmers, Guizhou builds demonstration bases and cultivates professional entities, focuses on the return of manure to the field and centralized treatment, Beijing constructs a planting and breeding cycle system, solves the "last mile" problem of manure return to the field, Shanghai has a 100% supporting rate of large-scale field facilities by 2030, strengthens the reduction of planting and breeding cycles and supervision in Shandong, and promotes ecological production coordination. Hebei improves the collection, storage, and transportation system, standardizes manure return to the field, and improves the supporting rate of facilities. Shanxi takes planting and breeding cycles as the core, promotes the fertilization and energy utilization of manure in Inner Mongolia, and combines the characteristics of pastoral areas to promote manure return to the field and Organic Fertilizer production. Liaoning, Improve the utilization rate of manure resources. Hubei focuses on large-scale manure treatment, promoting the combination of planting and breeding. Hunan standardizes the discharge of manure from large-scale farms, strengthens harmless and resource utilization. Guangdong subsidizes the collection, treatment, and cross county consumption of manure to ensure the quality of manure. Heilongjiang manure is mainly used for returning to the field, supplemented by biogas engineering. Anhui energy conversion (biogas power generation), fertilizer conversion (organic fertilizer production), Ningxia energy conversion (biogas power generation/bio natural gas), and fertilizer conversion to return to the field are promoted
1、 National top-level design leads policy direction
In 2017, the issuance of the "Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Accelerating the Resource Utilization of Livestock and Poultry Breeding Waste" (Guobanfa [2017] No. 48) marked the systematic promotion of the resource utilization of livestock and poultry manure in China. This document clarifies the core principles of "land based cultivation and balanced planting and breeding", proposes key quantitative targets such as comprehensive utilization rate of manure and supporting rate of large-scale field treatment facilities, and sets basic principles for local policy formulation.
On this basis, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has successively issued documents such as the "Construction Norms for the Utilization Facilities of Livestock and Poultry Manure Resources in Large scale Livestock and Poultry Farms (Trial)" (Nongbanmu [2018] No. 2) and the "Notice on Strengthening the Plan and Ledger Management of Livestock and Poultry Manure Resources Utilization" (Nongbanmu [2021] No. 46), which have refined the requirements from the aspects of facility construction standards, ledger management norms, etc., and constructed a national policy framework of "goal guidance standard support process supervision", promoting the substantive transformation of local policies from "whether there is" to "whether it is good or not" and "whether it is real or not".
2、 Local policy gradient promotion, covering the development of the whole region
Under the guidance of national policies, each province (city, autonomous region) in China has formulated targeted and highly operable local plans based on their own breeding scale, industrial layout, and ecological conditions, forming a multi-level and differentiated policy matrix. （1） Early deployment provinces: laying a solid foundation and taking the lead in breakthroughs (2017-2018). From 2017 to 2018, Yunnan, Fujian, Shanxi, Ningxia and other provinces responded to the national call and issued the first batch of local implementation plans, exploring the path for national policy implementation.
Yunnan Province takes the "Work Plan for Resource Utilization of Livestock and Poultry Breeding Waste" (Yunzhengbanfa [2017] No. 135) as the core, incorporates assessment into government performance, and promotes diversified manure utilization technologies;
Fujian Province has successively released two versions of the plan, from "accelerating progress" to "promoting the whole province", clarifying that the maximum subsidy for a single project is 3 million yuan, focusing on the construction of a planting and breeding cycle system;
Shanxi Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region respectively set the themes of "manure treatment and resource utilization" and "accelerating the resource utilization of livestock and poultry breeding waste", and set a unified goal of a comprehensive utilization rate of ≥ 75% and a supporting rate of ≥ 95% for large-scale farms by 2020, promoting technology paths such as full field return and biogas power generation.
Anhui Province issued the "Three Year Action Plan for Resource Utilization of Livestock and Poultry Breeding Waste (2018-2020)" (Wanzhengban [2018] No. 35) in 2018, proposing the specific tasks of completing the transformation of 6000 large-scale farms and constructing 20 large and medium-sized biogas projects, with organic fertilizer production and energy utilization as the core path.
The Work Plan for Promoting the Resource Utilization of Livestock and Poultry Breeding Waste in Beijing (Jingzhengbanfa [2018] No. 24) is based on the characteristics of breeding around big cities, focusing on the "last mile" problem of returning manure to the field. It introduces policies such as value-added tax refund and agricultural electricity preferential treatment, and constructs a characteristic model of "third-party service+government rewards and subsidies". （2） Deepening and upgrading stage: precise policy implementation, improving quality and efficiency (2023-2025) With the continuous promotion of national policies and the accumulation of practical experience, each province has entered a period of policy deepening and upgrading, focusing on technological optimization, mechanism innovation, and regulatory strengthening, and launching targeted policy measures.
Hubei Province has issued the "Management Measures for the Resource Utilization of Livestock and Poultry Breeding Waste (Trial)" (Eguangda [2024] No. 6), which regulates the treatment of large-scale farm manure from the perspective of management system;
The Implementation Plan for Promoting the Resource Utilization of Livestock and Poultry Manure in Guizhou Province (Qian Nong Fa [2024] No. 7) proposes the idea of building demonstration bases and cultivating specialized governance entities to solve the problem of collecting manure in mountainous areas.
Based on the requirements of ecological protection, Shanghai has intensively introduced two key policies: the "2024 Shanghai Green Planting and Breeding Circular Agriculture Pilot Implementation Plan" (Shanghai Agricultural Commission [2024] No. 158) and the "Shanghai Livestock and Poultry Breeding Pollution Prevention and Control Plan (2024-2030)", which stipulate that the supporting rate of large-scale farm facilities, online monitoring rate, and ledger construction rate will be maintained at 100% by 2030, and full supervision will be achieved through Internet of Things traceability.
Guangdong Province has taken the green planting and breeding cycle pilot as a starting point, and has successively released pilot implementation plans for 2023 and 2025, improved the cross county consumption mechanism, implemented the "five have" standard selection for service providers, and promoted the scale and standardization of manure returning to the field.
The "2024 Work Plan for Resource Utilization of Livestock and Poultry Manure in Hebei Province" (Jinan Letter [2024] No. 38) focuses on improving the collection, storage, and transportation system.
Liaoning Province has opened a column on the resource utilization of livestock and poultry manure, which focuses on displaying policy interpretations, technical guidelines, and project progress, enhancing policy awareness and implementation efficiency.
3、 Policy core commonalities and regional characteristics are highlighted
（1） Common core: Anchoring goals and strengthening support. Throughout the country, local policies revolve around three major cores:
One is to quantify the goals, generally setting phased targets of comprehensive utilization rate of manure ≥ 75% -95% and supporting rate of large-scale field treatment facilities ≥ 95% -100%, forming a clear assessment orientation;
Secondly, there is technological diversity, with fertilization returning to the field, energy utilization, and crop breeding cycle as the main paths, balancing centralized treatment and decentralized utilization;
The third is strong guarantee, providing support in terms of financial subsidies, land security, tax incentives, etc., encouraging third-party governance entities to participate, and reducing the burden on farmers. （2） Regional characteristics: tailored to local conditions, precise implementation of policies in each province, based on commonalities, fully combining regional characteristics to form differentiated highlights:
Strengthen cross county consumption and tailwater treatment in the southern water network areas (Fujian, Guangdong) to prevent non-point source pollution;
Combining straw resource utilization and promoting the integrated model of composting and returning farmland in the northern agricultural pastoral transitional zone (Inner Mongolia, Shanxi);
Strictly control the scale of aquaculture in the surrounding areas of big cities (Beijing, Shanghai), focusing on intensive treatment and organic fertilizer substitution;
Southwest mountainous areas (Guizhou, Yunnan) focus on the construction of small-scale and decentralized treatment facilities to solve the problem of collecting mountain manure.
4、 Policy Implementation Effectiveness and Future Prospects
After years of policy promotion, the level of resource utilization of livestock and poultry manure in China has significantly improved, the supporting rate of large-scale field treatment facilities has greatly increased, the scope of replacing chemical fertilizers with organic fertilizers continues to expand, and the pattern of planting and breeding cycle has initially formed. The continuous implementation of policies not only effectively solves the problem of environmental pollution in the breeding industry, but also promotes the transformation and upgrading of agricultural production methods, providing important support for ensuring food security and improving the rural ecological environment.
In the future, with the further refinement and improvement of policies, various regions will continue to focus on technological innovation, mechanism optimization, and regulatory strengthening. On the one hand, they will increase support for small and medium-sized livestock farmers and fill the gaps in manure treatment in free range areas; On the other hand, we will deepen the promotion of the planting and breeding cycle model, promote the deep integration of manure resource utilization with rural revitalization and high-quality agricultural development, and make livestock and poultry manure truly a "new treasure" for green agricultural development.