Chinese tech giant NetEase Inc. will build its third pig farm as the government vows to boost domestic pork production in response to the African swine fever disaster.

NetEase, an online gaming and e-commerce company, signed a cooperation agreement with the municipal government of Shaoxing, a city in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, to build a pig farm that will produce half a million hogs a year. The company didn’t disclose the investment amount.

NetEase founder and Chief Executive Ding Lei said the company’s biggest opportunity is to find a more suitable pig breeding solution that will industrialize the traditional industry.

Ding announced NetEase’s entry into pig farming in 2009. It built its first pig farm in 2012 in Anji of Zhejiang province and a second in the southeastern province of Jiangxi.

With the new pig farm, expected to complete all three phases of construction by 2024, the company’s annual hog production will expand to 670,000, four times its current volume.

Earlier this month, the Chinese government issued a series of measures to boost pork production, including increased subsidies to support the construction of large pig farms.

Since last summer, China’s pig farmers have been hit hard by a deadly pig disease for which there is no cure or vaccine. The number of pigs dropped by more than a third in July from the previous year, official data showed. Meanwhile, the average pork price surged 46.7% year-on-year in August, the fastest pace in more than eight years.

Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com)