China's pork crisis brings pig farms back to cities

Busy bulldozers on the outskirts of Beijing are in a race against time.

They've got to build 11 pig farms by the end of the year.

China is trying to add 200 million pigs to its nationwide herd over two years.

That's after African swine fever swept across the country and left half its pigs dead in 2018.

China is the world's biggest consumer of pork - and the disease sent prices soaring.

You can see the Beijing skyline from this future lot.

But building so close to a big city is something China stood against.

That was before the fever.

They campaigned for pigs to be housed in the countryside to prevent farm run-off from seeking into urban areas.

Then, the hogs would be trucked into the city for slaughter.

But the swine fever led to a ban on moving pigs to stop the disease from spreading.

Prices surged to record highs.

Now China wants the urban farms back.

But the new campaign may still come at a high cost, both financially and environmentally.

To prevent farm waste from polluting urban areas, pig farmers must spend extra on water and waste treatment facilities, deodorisers, and more.