August 18, 2006

Milk cow husbandry programme failing in some Vietnamese provinces

12 provinces in Vietnam have been urged by the government to abandon their milk cow husbandry programme as their herd numbers have been declining, while milk demand has lessened, Vietnam's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said.

A report released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) showed that the number of milk cows has increased by 25 percent yearly, reaching 106,400 since the government encouraged the development of milk cow husbandry.

In 2005, milk ouput grew 31 percent to 197,700 tonnes.

MARD, the Economic Committee of the Central Communist Party and the Government's Office agreed the milk cow husbandry programme has achieved its desired results it set out to achieve. The total number of 106,400 cows has exceeded the targeted 100,000 cows.

However, some farmers are now saddled with higher cattle-feed prices and low selling price of milk.

Local milk processors already prefer imported milk powder over local fresh milk and these imports are expected to increase once Vietnam joins the WTO and cuts tariffs. Milk powder imports increased 33 percent in Vietnam to US$222 million last year.

In the past, farmers have rushed to breed milk cows under favourable policies,. However, the programme has floundered in some provinces. For example, the cow herd in Thai Nguyen has declined by 45 percent, while Phu Tho's has declined by 68 percent and Thai Binh's, by 37 percent.