September 19, 2008

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has urged the government not to encourage animal and meat imports that can be produced domestically.

Hoang Kim Giao, head of the Animal Husbandry Department, said Vietnam should take measures to control inflation and promote domestic production.

The sector should increase investment in breeding and supply while tightening the examination of breed origins and improving vaccination for livestock, Giao said.

Giao also urges farmers to use advanced technology to improve animal husbandry in an effort to solve the sector's difficulties, which include stagnant growth rate, rising feed costs and falling meat prices.

President of the Animal Feed Association Le Ba Lich partly blamed the problem on the tax department's policy to cut meat import tariffs to a level lower than required.

Lich said the move pressurises the industry as it has to battle cheap imports.

In the first seven months of 2008, Vietnam imported 64,600 tonnes of assorted meat, with chicken increasing 1.5 times over the entire 2007 import volume, according to statistics from the Customs Office.