IF you read last week's article about poverty in China, you may be wondering how raising pigs and chickens can help poor people.
Well, for many poor farmers, it represents the quickest, most effective way of earning much-needed cash.
Why are pigs and chickens so profitable? Because they do not need much land - just a few square metres.
So even the smallest farm can accommodate them. And as they grow fast, in a few months or a couple of years the fully grown animals can be sold to earn cash.
In addition, their manure can be used as fertiliser to improver the farm's productivity.
The profits earned can be between Y200 and Y400 (HK$180 to HK$360) a year.
That may not sound like much, but for many farmers Y400 is almost double their entire annual income. So pig or chicken farming can triple the amount of cash they have.
