Impact of COVID-19 on Animal Husbandry
The COVID-19 pandemic has created serious economic challenges for most governments with job losses, production shortages and lockdowns.One of the critical effects of the pandemic has been a negative impact on agricultural food production and distribution. the appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to the existing animal pandemics in some countries has further exacerbated the impacts of COVID-19 on animal agriculture.
Declining consumer demand
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused livestock industries to shrink in many countries. Consumers’panic buying of meat products and COVID-19 infections among processing plant workers have slowed processing capacity, and Most of the slaughtering and processing enterprises have stopped work and production as workers contracted the virus, leaving animals that have reached slaughter time with nowhere to go. Farmers are facing enormous pressure, and greatly affect for the industrial chain.
Spanish pig farming under COVID-19
In this case, however, Spain’s pig industry is booming. In recent years, Spain is rapidly rebuilding farms that have been closed in northern and western Europe, and rebuilding even more farms. EU data show that the Spanish pig industry has continued to grow in recent years.
Of the total EU pork exports to third countries in 2020, 35% came from Spain. Italian meat giant Pini has built a large slaughterhouse in Spain that has given a real boost to the Spanish pig industry. Spain is both a destination for fattening pigs and piglets, as well as a producer of live pigs.
Over the past five years, the financial performance of large-scale pig production enterprises in Spain has been excellent. In recent years, many new pig farms have been built in Spain,where the environment still has room for development. Spain is a paradise for big pig producers looking to expand further.
