Gushi County/Beijing — For Xu, a mother and wife from central China, losing her family’s entire pig herd to African swine fever almost meant not serving the cured pork, known as la rou, and dried sausage which are central to her Lunar New Year meals.

“I wasn’t going to make any this year, but then my son said ‘Ma, I want to eat sausage, every year we have it’, so I said OK I’ll make a bit,” she said, standing in her yard strung with homemade sausages, fish and cured pork on a line in a village in Gushi County, in Henan province...

Subscribe now to unlock this article.

Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).

There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.

Cancel anytime.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.