October 22, 2010

 

Vietnam urged to boost dairy industry

The Vietnamese government needs to foster development of dairy farms in the country in order to reduce reliance on imports and meet rising demand among the population, experts said.

 

The number of domestic dairy cows will reach 145,000 cows by the end of this year and 470,000 by 2020, said Do Kim Tuyen of the Animal Husbandry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

 

Milk output is expected to jump 15% to reach 319,919 tonnes this year, and rise to more than one million tonnes by 2020, meeting 35-38% of the estimated domestic demand by then, he said.

 

Last year, dairy farms had proved to be economically efficient for local farmers and households.

 

According to a department survey, the farmers were able to earn profits of VND2,000-2,500 (US$0.10-$0.13) per kilogramme at average selling prices of VND7,800-8,500 (US$0.40-$0.43)/kg thanks to the modern husbandry techniques learnt from the milch cow development programme over the last 10 years.

 

However, the domestic dairy industry also faces some serious challenges including the lack of veterinary knowledge and other aspects that resulted in low productivity as well as low quality of milk, said analysts.

 

The current scale of operations of dairy firms was also small, and farmers are unable to expand production because of limited land resources.

 

In addition, most of raw materials for animal feed were imported, making input costs high and reducing competitiveness of local products, experts said.

 

The tropical climate is also not suitable for high-yield cow husbandry, and this has impacted product quality and costs as well, they added.

 

Tuyen said the government has encouraged individuals and households to start large scale farms and apply advanced technology and science in husbandry development.

 

Jan Wegenaar, production director of FrieslandCampina Vietnam, said farmers need to increase milk quality, productivity and output by good management and control, with the aim of developing domestic milch cow husbandry in a sustainable way.

 

According to FAO statistics, per capita milk consumption in Asian countries is 65.5 kg, with Japan (74.5kg), Singapore (58.8kg), China (34kg) and Thailand (22.1kg) far ahead of Vietnam (14.5kg).