July 31, 2023

 

Vietnamese agriculture official highlights pig production industry's need for long-term strategy

 

 

Vietnam's pig production industry needs a long-term development strategy as the price of animal feed is nearly 70% of total costs, said the country's Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Phùng Đức Tiến.

 

The industry must also focus on processing and high-tech animal husbandry, Tiến said in a meeting focused on implementing solutions to promote pig production. The event was organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in Hanoi.

 

In the first half of this year, pork production reached 2.32 million tonnes, up 5.4% and the total number of pigs is estimated to have increased by 2.5% over the same period last year. Pork prices have increased since June, with prices ranging from ₫60,000 (US$2.5) to ₫67,000 (US$2.8) per kilo. The increase in pork prices was a good sign for farmers and the agricultural industry, said the deputy minister.

 

"There are risks of epidemic outbreaks with many strains of influenza viruses and other diseases imported from abroad," said Tiến. "The price of animal feed is still high and the illegal import of livestock products is still uncontrolled.

 

"For months, the ministry, farmers and the relevant agencies had found solutions to handle the situation. The efforts have paid off as prices of livestock products, especially pork, have increased again."

 

Tiến urged the livestock industry to be proactive in dealing with difficulties in the face of disease developments and the increase of raw material and food prices in the second half of this year.

 

The industry would need to be well prepared with food sources from now until the Tết (Lunar New Year), with demand increasing by 15-20%.

 

The pig industry would also need to increase exports. Building an autonomous livestock industry was necessary to solve the problem of animal feed.

 

"The country's corn yield is about four million tonnes. It's impossible to import corn and soybeans forever. We must have a solution," Tiến told the meeting.

 

Phạm Kim Đăng, deputy director of the ministry's Livestock Production Department, said pig production had shifted from small-scale household farming to large-scale farms.

 

In the past five years, the rate of household husbandry had decreased by 5-7% per year, Đăng told the meeting.

 

Currently, pork production in smallholder farmers had been reduced to 35-40% of the total.

 

The structure of the pork supply in 2022 showed that household enterprises accounted for only 19%, livestock households accounted for 38% and FDI enterprises made up 43%.

 

Large-scale domestic livestock enterprises, such as Dabaco, Masan, Tân Long, Thiên Thuận Trường, Mavin, Greenfeed, Trường Hải and Hoà Phát, and foreign-invested companies, like CP, Japfa Comfeed, New Hope, CJ, Emivest and Cargill, were building and gradually forming a chain-link farm system. This was one step in restructuring livestock production to gradually modernise Vietnam's livestock industry.

 

Vietnam's Strategy on Livestock Development to 2030 sets a goal of 30 million pig heads every year, of which the sow herd is set at about 2.5 million heads, carcass meat is about six million tonnes and export is 15-20% of pork production.

 

Đăng said the industry would focus on enhancing bio-safety pig production, controlling epidemics, building links, effectively managing pig breeds, developing indigenous and endemic breeds, protecting the environment and applying high technologies.

 

— VNS