ネズミやヘビの繁殖業者、コロナで打撃　補償額足りず　中国

【婁底ＡＦＰ＝時事】中国中部・湖南省でタケネズミを繁殖する仕事に就いているリウ・イェンチュンさんが、ちょうど多くの利益を手にし始めた昨年末、新型コロナウイルス感染症が広がり始めた。（写真は中国・湖南省邵陽で空になったケージの間に立つタケネズミの繁殖業者）
　次々に死者を出している新型ウイルスは、中国における野生動物の売買と関連付けられている。科学者らが、新型ウイルスはコウモリに由来し、他の哺乳類を介して人間に感染するおそれがあると指摘したためだ。
　これを受けて、中国当局は、タケネズミ、コブラ、ハクビシンなど郷土料理に使われるさまざまな動物の売買と消費を全国的に禁止した。
　中国国営メディアが先週報じたところによると、中国当局がエキゾチックアニマル（飼育が珍しい動物）の繁殖業者を規制対象にしたことで、約１１０億元（約１６００億円）相当の動物が販売できなくなり、２５万近い人々の仕事に影響が出た。
　ネズミ約８００匹を繁殖させていたリウさんは、ほそぼそと営んできた事業が立ち行かなくなり、「精神的に参ってしまいそうだった……別の仕事を見つけるのは難しい」「これから何をすればいいか、はっきりとした計画はない」と嘆く。
　規制処分を受けた事業への政府からの補償額は、投資額には程遠く、繁殖業者らはＡＦＰに対し、新しい仕事を始める資金はほとんどなく、負債の返済に必死だと語った。
　別のタケネズミ繁殖業者の男性（４７）は、「昨年は事業規模を拡大する計画を立てていた……しかし、新型ウイルスの感染拡大は、私たちにとっては非常に大きな痛手だ」という。
　「心の中では泣いている」というこの業者は、今はウサギとニワトリを飼育している。
　中国の農村部では、新型ウイルスによって経済が停滞する前から、５０００万人以上が貧困状態にあった。政府は年間２３００元（約３万５０００円）未満での生活を貧困と定義している。
　湖南省の業者は、「今年は（新型ウイルスの）流行によって、私たちはまた貧困に逆戻りしつつある。しかも、以前よりもひどい状態にだ」と語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/08/24-16:15）

Bamboo rat farmer Liu Yanqun was just starting to make plump returns from the rodents in his farm in central China when the coronavirus broke out at the end of last year.
The killer virus has since been linked to China's wildlife trade, with scientists saying it could have originated in bats and been transmitted to people via another mammal.
In response, Chinese authorities imposed a national ban on the trade and consumption of various animals that are used in speciality regional dishes, including bamboo rats, cobras and civet cats.
The ban has cost tens of thousands of jobs in rural China, where the relatively cheap form of farming of wildlife had once been promoted as a way to lift people out of poverty.
I felt like breaking down... it's hard for me to find another job, said Liu, who has seen his modest business farming about 800 rats in central Hunan province fall apart.
I don't have a clear plan on what to do next.
Liu, 38, had converted the six rooms of his old family house -- nestled deep in winding, mountainous roads -- into the rat farm six years ago.
He had just been starting to make decent returns last year and, like many other farmers, government compensation packages for ending his business have not been enough.
In May, Hunan was among the first provinces to offer compensation to encourage farmers to switch livelihoods.
Authorities evaluated farms and inventories, offering 75 yuan ($11) for a kilogram of bamboo rat, 120 yuan for that of cobra and 600 yuan for each civet cat.
Farmers told AFP the buyout did not meet the market value of the animals, and only covered a small proportion of infrastructure costs on their farms.
One bamboo rat farmer said the buyout covered just half his animals' market value.
Some farmers also struggled while authorities took time to assess livestock.
We couldn't kill them or sell them, said cobra farmer Li Weiguo, 61, adding that many of his reptiles had died by the time the authorities came for them.
I had over 3,000 snakes but only received compensation for 1,600 or so eventually, he said.
- 'Crying inside' -
China's clampdown on exotic animal farms has affected nearly 250,000 jobs, with businesses unable to sell animals worth some 11 billion yuan, a state media report said last week.
With compensation barely covering their investments, farmers told AFP they were struggling to repay debts with little capital to start new ventures.
All the money (for my business) came from loans... and friends and relatives. I have no means to repay them and they ask me regularly these days, said Li, the cobra farmer.
Another bamboo rat farmer, Huang Guohua, said he had been left with more than 400,000 yuan in debt.
Last year, I had plans to expand the business... but the coronavirus outbreak caused us to suffer huge losses, said Huang, 47.
His plan was to triple the scale of his farm, but the money he poured into infrastructure has gone down the drain because of the wildlife ban.
I was crying inside, said Huang, who now raises rabbits and chickens.
China has set an ambitious target of eradicating extreme poverty and building a moderately prosperous society by the end of 2020.
But the pandemic fallout has made such a goal increasingly hard to achieve, with China's economy contracting 1.6 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2020.
Even before the coronavirus dragged economic growth, more than five million rural Chinese lived in poverty -- defined by the government as surviving on less than 2,300 yuan ($326) a year.
With the epidemic this year, we are returning to poverty -- and to a worse state than before, said Huang.