BEIJING, CHINA - SOME farmers in north-western Shaanxi province are sleeping in pigsties to stop thieves stealing their livelihood in a further sign of desperation as pork supplies recover slowly from an outbreak of blue-ear disease.

Exacerbating the recovery is persistent migration from the countryside to the cities as farmers seek better wages, resulting in higher prices of pork which have helped push China's inflation to 12-year highs.

In a village in Shaanxi's Lantian county, some terrified villagers sleep with their animals and lock pigsty gates at night.

'So far, the number of pig thefts has reached 21 in three counties altogether,' the Beijing Youth Daily on Friday quoted local officials as saying.

'Hundreds of village people have moved into the family pigsty in order to prevent pig thefts.'

Pork prices have surged since the outbreak of the deadly blue-ear disease in 2006, and the newspaper quoted one villager as saying that a 100kg pig would now easily sell for more than 2,000 yuan (S$388) at market prices.

This compares with 1,600 yuan for a pig in January, according to local media.

Prices of pork, a major contributor to China's consumer inflation, dipped 0.07 per cent in the week ending March 21 but analysts expect them to stay high on the back of increased pork consumption as double-digit growth fattens consumers' wallets.

Worries about rising prices reached new highs in January before the Lunar New Year holiday, with reports of pig-rearing classes enforced in schools and a Chinese man raising three squealing pigs on his apartment balcony in south-western Chongqing by local media. -- REUTERS