BEIJING — China will fast-track the mechanization development of the husbandry sector, with an aim to achieve a 50 percent overall mechanization rate by 2025. 

The mechanization rate in the large-scale breeding of live pigs, broiler chickens and layer chickens will reach 70 percent, while that of beef cattle and sheep should exceed 50 percent, said a circular issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. 

The move, which highlights the integration between machinery equipment and breeding techniques with a focus on pushing forward major livestock farming, key production links and scale breeding farm mechanization, underpins the high-quality development of the husbandry sector, the circular said. 

It also underlined efforts to advance the innovation of machinery equipment and step up the mechanized disposal of livestock waste to accelerate the upgrade of the livestock farming industry.