African swine fever spreads, pig breeding farms struggle.

(Baohatinh.vn) - Amidst difficulties in selling breeding stock due to the impact of African swine fever, pig farms in Ha Tinh are forced to increase the scale of their fattening pig herds, incurring many additional costs.

For nearly three months, the Ha Tinh Agricultural and Forestry Development Joint Stock Company (Truong Luu commune), a subsidiary of the Ha Tinh Mineral and Trade Corporation, has faced challenges due to the African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak in the area. On one hand, the company has had to increase its disease prevention costs by 20-30% compared to normal times; on the other hand, it has had to deal with the surplus of breeding pigs due to decreased demand.

Ha Tinh Agricultural and Forestry Development Joint Stock Company is facing difficulties in selling breeding pigs.

Mr. Mai Khac Mai, Director of Ha Tinh Agricultural and Forestry Development Joint Stock Company, said: The company currently has more than 1,800 breeding sows with 14 satellite farms. On average, in addition to supplying breeding stock to affiliated farms, the company exports more than 1,500 piglets to the market each month. However, for nearly three months, the company has faced difficulties in product sales, only being able to sell a small number of piglets at lower prices than before. This situation has forced the company to convert all its "inventory" of breeding pigs to raising pigs for meat. In the context of rising costs for disease prevention in livestock, feed prices, and electricity prices, the company is incurring many additional expenses.

In 2025, Ha Tinh Forestry and Agriculture Development Joint Stock Company aims for a revenue of 245 billion VND, with approximately 170 billion VND achieved in the first seven months. To maintain the stability of the integrated livestock chain and prevent African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks, the company continues to strengthen disease prevention and control efforts, investing resources in protecting livestock herds through biosecure farming practices.

Mitraco Ha Tinh Livestock Joint Stock Company is strengthening disease prevention measures for its livestock (archive photo).

Similarly, two "subsidiaries" specializing in pig farming of the Ha Tinh Mineral and Trade Corporation, namely Mitraco Ha Tinh Livestock Joint Stock Company (Ha Huy Tap ward) and Thien Loc Animal Feed Joint Stock Company (Can Loc commune), are also struggling to cope with African Swine Fever.

According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Thang – Deputy General Director of Ha Tinh Mineral and Trade Corporation: The corporation has 3 affiliated units specializing in pig farming with a scale of 6,600 breeding pigs; supplying the market with approximately 150,000 breeding and commercial pigs per year. Recently, due to the impact of African Swine Fever (ASF), the unit has faced many difficulties due to increased disease prevention costs, a sharp decrease in the consumption of breeding and meat pigs, and increased farming expenses. The corporation has strengthened its direction to its units not only to strictly implement internal disease prevention measures but also to support localities and farmers in implementing standard procedures for ASF prevention; providing supplies, medicines, and assigning staff to directly assist in implementation. This helps farmers prevent the disease while also providing external disease prevention measures for the corporation's farms.

Unable to sell breeding pigs, Thang Loi Cooperative had to increase the size of its herd of market pigs.

In the "battle" against African Swine Fever (ASF), cooperatives and livestock farms in the area face more pressure than businesses due to limited resources. Since the end of the second quarter of 2025, Thang Loi Cooperative (Tien Dien commune) has been facing difficulties due to the high risk of ASF outbreaks and a lack of product outlets.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nghia, Director of Thang Loi Cooperative, said: “We raise 300 sows, averaging 500 piglets per month for the market. Due to the complicated disease situation, farmers have stopped raising pigs, making sales very difficult. We have to cooperate with farms inside and outside the province to sell our piglets, but it's still difficult; we only manage to sell about one-third of our production. The remaining two-thirds have to be kept for breeding, incurring many additional costs. In 2024, the cooperative aimed for revenue exceeding 15 billion VND, but this year, due to the difficult situation, projected revenue is expected to drop sharply.”

For nearly two months now, the self-sufficient pig farm of Mr. Tran Dinh Hoan's family (Son Tay commune) has not been able to sell any piglets.

Mr. Tran Dinh Hoan said: “Anticipating the disease situation in livestock, we had previously reduced the number of sows from 520 to 460 to decrease the production of piglets. With 460 sows, we currently produce 700-800 piglets per month. For a long time, the facility mainly sold piglets to farmers, but now that farmers are not restocking or increasing their herds, the facility cannot supply piglets and is forced to increase the number of fattening pigs. Although the output is difficult and incurs billions of dong in costs, we dare not reduce the number of sows any further because it would create a passive situation in the breeding process once the disease is under control.”

Difficulty in selling breeding pigs has forced farms to increase the scale of fattening pigs, incurring higher costs.

The province currently has 254 medium and large-scale pig farms. Currently, farm owners have to both ensure disease prevention and deal with the surplus of breeding pigs, resulting in additional costs of billions of VND per farm.

Mr. Phan Quy Duong, Head of the Livestock Management Department of the Ha Tinh Provincial Department of Crop Production and Livestock, stated: The total pig population in Ha Tinh currently reaches 402,000, with 70% raised in concentrated farms. Recently, African Swine Fever (ASF) has been complicated, making it difficult for most farms to sell breeding pigs, forcing them to switch to raising fattening pigs, incurring significant costs. Furthermore, farms are now also struggling to sell fattening pigs, leading to longer rearing times, slower turnover, and reduced economic efficiency.

In the context of the ongoing epidemic, livestock farms should not increase or restock their herds; they should focus intensely on disease prevention and control; ensure biosecurity in livestock farming, maintain clean barns, provide adequate and balanced feed rations for each type of pig and each stage of rearing; and administer vaccinations as required.

According to experts, African Swine Fever (ASF) is currently occurring sporadically in livestock farms across 43 communes and wards in the province, resulting in the culling of over 4,900 infected pigs. The disease is developing in a complex manner in farming households and is likely to continue spreading in the coming period.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/dich-ta-lon-chau-phi-lan-rong-trang-trai-lon-giong-lao-dao-post293792.html