The key to sustainable livestock development.

Over the years, Thanh Hoa's livestock industry has faced numerous dangerous diseases such as lumpy skin disease in buffaloes and cattle, avian influenza, and African swine fever. Although quickly brought under control, these outbreaks disrupted the production chain and affected livestock farmers. Given this reality, establishing disease-free zones (DFS) is of great importance, not only in controlling diseases but also in producing safe products for consumers. This is the key to the sustainable development of the livestock industry.

A large-scale egg-laying chicken farm in Hoang Loc commune.

Since 2016, Thanh Hoa province has been implementing the construction of disease-free livestock farms. To date, the province has 107 such farms, including 67 pig farms, 1 cattle farm, and 39 poultry farms. At these farms, conditions such as veterinary hygiene, disease reporting, vaccination, animal quarantine, animal slaughter, and handling of animals with infectious diseases are ensured in accordance with regulations. Livestock farms that receive disease-free certification will be considered for certification under the Vietnamese Good Animal Husbandry Practices (VietGAHP) standard and will be given priority to participate in trade promotion and product advertising programs.

As one of the localities developing livestock farming, Nga Son commune has many large-scale farms applying high technology. At Ms. Dang Thi Thanh's farm, the conditions for a disease-free livestock facility are currently being met. According to Ms. Thanh, the farm has met the requirements such as being far from residential areas, implementing disease prevention and control measures, and applying a "three-layer" disease control process: full vaccination against diseases, regular cleaning of barns, ensuring clean feed and water, and controlling the origin of breeding stock... ensuring safety against H5N1, H5N6, and other diseases. However, to be recognized as a disease-free facility, the farm needs to invest in a disinfection system, specialized transport vehicles, a separate area for handling animal carcasses... as well as expanding the scale of livestock farming.

In practice, establishing disease-free livestock facilities is essential for large-scale livestock farms. This not only ensures they benefit from the rights stipulated by the Veterinary Law, facilitates product sales, and allows participation in the production chain, but also creates a protective shield for livestock against dangerous diseases; minimizing disease prevention and treatment costs while guaranteeing disease-free, safe, and economically efficient livestock farming.

However, given the conditions for obtaining certification for biosafety facilities and the number of currently licensed facilities, the reality shows that building biosafety facilities still faces many difficulties. Ms. Le Thi Tram, a high-quality beef cattle farmer in Hoang Hoa commune, said: “Farmers are not enthusiastic about building biosafety facilities because the scale is not suitable, the procedures are quite complicated, the testing costs are high, many criteria must be met, the waiting time for testing water sources, pathogens, and environmental impacts is quite long... In addition, small-scale, scattered farming does not ensure veterinary hygiene conditions, making it difficult to apply biosafety and biosafety measures in livestock farming.”

According to the Thanh Hoa Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine, the benefits for livestock farmers stem from the fact that building disease-free zones not only helps stabilize food supply but also effectively prevents and controls diseases, creating momentum for the livestock industry to produce products that meet standards. Despite acknowledging the difficulties, with the goal of sustainable livestock development, the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine continues to review localities and large-scale farms that meet the criteria to guide the construction of disease-free zones and livestock facilities. In addition, it is requested that localities strengthen propaganda about the benefits of building disease-free zones and livestock facilities; guide livestock farmers on regulations and registration procedures; gradually eliminate small-scale livestock farming in residential areas; build large-scale, concentrated farms; invest in barn systems; effectively implement disease prevention and control, environmental management, and apply automation technology to each stage and the entire production process...

Text and photos: Le Ngoc

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/chia-khoa-cho-phat-trien-chan-nuoi-ben-vung-287169.htm