The city has shut down a large number of livestock farms along the upper reaches of the Huangpu River to prevent them from polluting the waterway, but officials said the move won't have much effect on local livestock supplies.

The campaign is considered a major part of the city's environmental protection plan for the next three years.

Officials with the Shanghai Agriculture Administration said on April 6that the local government has spent more than 230 million yuan (US$27.7 million) to subsidize these farmers and help move some of the farms to neighboring provinces.

Starting from last year, the program has forced 82 suburban livestock farms to shut down, while 182 others have been told to close by the end of next year.

By that time, only around 700 renovated livestock farms will remain in the city.

According to a newly issued guideline for local farms, the city will streamline its farming industry including poultry, cattle and pig farms.

City officials claim the farms produce thousands of tons of animal excrement drained directly into the branches of the Huangpu River.

In the meantime, as some farms will move out and the livestock supply has to shrink, supermarkets around the city will rely on imports from neighboring provinces in the Yangtze River Delta, officials said. Officials also said that 16 cities in the Yangtze River Delta, including Shanghai, will team up to set up a milk production alliance to satisfy demand in the region.

This policy is supposed to ensure the local food supply and farmers' income as well as the need for environmental protection.

Take pujiang Cattle Farm in Xuhui District for example. This former riverside farm has been demolished and turned to a track of water-conservation woods that are part of the planned ecological zone along the upper reaches of the river.

The farm has moved to Changshu in Jiangsu Province and continues to work.

It has been compensated with a government subsidy of 2.4 million yuan.