December 5, 2005

Vietnam develops cattle breeding following bird flu outbreaks

Vietnam is rapidly expanding its cattle-breeding sector in light of the country's bird flu outbreaks, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said.

Cattle numbers in Vietnam reached 4.9 million head, up 4.1 percent from 2004.

Pasture acreage was also double that of last year, rising to 20,000 hectares.

Meanwhile, the northern provinces of Ha Tay, Thai Binh, Hung Yen, Hai Duong, Nam Dinh and Hai Phong, and the central Thanh Hoa province have developed local pig farms.

Each farm held an average of 200 to 500 hogs and 100 to 150 sows of foreign stock. The provinces have also formed an efficient breeding cooperative model using hi-tech husbandry.  

MARD said Vietnam's husbandry sector has focused on cattle breeding in areas where pasture and feed processing industries were available, in response to the country's prolonged bird flu situation.