Booming poultry and livestock farms are emerging as the new polluters in China because most operators fail to clean up animal feces, according to the country's environmental protection authorities.

Animal and poultry breeding have become the leading source of pollution in vast rural areas in China.

About 1.9 billion tons of feces were produced by poultry and livestock farms across the nation in 1999, 2.4 times the amount of industrial waste, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) found in a recent survey.

Water pollution and unpleasant smells which come from inadequately treated animal waste may worsen because the animal husbandry business will continue to boom in order to satisfy the increasing consumption of meat and poultry, a SEPA official said.

Raising livestock and poultry has been encouraged in many areas in China as a way to help farmers increase incomes. But pollution prevention is often the "missing link" due to the ignorance of business owners, the official said.

Local environmental protection departments who pay little attention to pollution control are also responsible, he said.

It has been found that 90 percent of animal farms nationwide were built without any thought of their possible effect on the environment, and 60 percent of the farms lack pollution-prevention facilities.

About 80 percent of large and medium-sized poultry and livestock farms are located in densely-populated areas in east China, and around major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

The SEPA plans to increase efforts in this field through trial projects for pollution control and with comprehensive utilization of animal waste in some key areas.

(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2002)