Many livestock farmers sadly "missed the appointment" with the Tet market.

(Baohatinh.vn) - Ha Tinh's livestock industry is facing many difficulties and challenges due to African swine fever (ASF) and continuous natural disasters and floods.

At this time last year, Vu Son Duc Ecological Agriculture and Service Cooperative in Thuong Duc commune boldly raised nearly 3,000 pigs to serve the Lunar New Year market. However, due to the complicated developments and strong outbreaks of ASF in the last months of the year, increasing the cooperative's herd was almost impossible.

Due to the complicated epidemic, Vu Son Duc Ecological Agriculture and Service Cooperative has reduced the number of pigs raised for Tet.

Mr. Nguyen Khac Trieu - representative of the cooperative shared: "This year, for the batch of pigs serving the Tet market, we only dare to raise nearly 1,000 pigs, about 1/3 compared to last year. The main reason is that the disease is too complicated, the high risk makes us not dare to risk increasing the herd, so we have to reduce the scale to keep capital safe and prevent disease more effectively."

According to Mr. Trieu, in addition to directly affecting the essential pork supply for the year-end market, the sharp decline in the size of the pig herd also affects the cooperative's revenue. Currently, the cooperative is focusing on disease prevention and taking care of the existing pig herd to ensure it can be sold at the end of the year.

DTLCP is complicated in Ha Huy Tap ward.

In recent days, in Ha Huy Tap ward, ASF has been very complicated. Since the beginning of August, the ward has destroyed more than 900 sick pigs with a total weight of 71 tons. The epidemic has forced many households to "hang up their barns" because of the huge economic losses.

Mr. Nguyen Mau Ha's family (Tan Hoa 1 residential group, Ha Huy Tap ward) is one of the households heavily affected by ASF. He said that his family had just destroyed 68 pigs weighing nearly 8 tons, losing almost all of their capital and care efforts.

“All the effort and capital invested in this batch of pigs now have to be destroyed, it is so heartbreaking to see. The damage is up to hundreds of millions of dong, leaving my family with almost nothing to reinvest. Farmers are very worried at the moment, not knowing when the epidemic will be completely controlled so they can feel secure to return to production,” Mr. Ha shared.

Ha Tinh livestock farmers are facing many difficulties due to natural disasters and epidemics.

Not only epidemics, but also consecutive natural disasters have made the livestock industry in Ha Tinh even more difficult. Prolonged rain and floods, especially in low-lying areas, have caused livestock farmers to face many losses such as: damaged facilities, livestock and poultry swept away, and polluted livestock environments...

Mr. Nguyen Van Thang (Ai Quoc village, Cam Due commune) said: "The prolonged heavy rain combined with the release of floodwaters from Ke Go lake has caused hundreds of households in the village to be flooded and completely isolated. Property damage is inevitable. In addition to all the rice being soaked, my family and other households lost a lot of poultry. Last year, this time was the Tet chicken season, but this year the continuous rain and floods have made raising livestock difficult, and the barns are not safe enough to raise large numbers of animals."

According to Mr. Thang, even if the weather from now until the end of the year is favorable, people will not be able to raise chickens for Tet because the remaining time is too short, not enough for the poultry to reach the right weight and quality. This means that the poultry supply at the end of the year will also be seriously affected.

Even if things go well from now until the end of the year, people will not be able to raise chickens for Tet because the time left is too short. Photo courtesy

Due to the complicated developments of the epidemic and natural disasters, many livestock farmers in Ha Tinh have had to regretfully "miss the appointment" with the Lunar New Year market - the time of the year when food consumption is the highest. Having to destroy livestock or not daring to re-raise them has caused them to lose an important source of income, while significantly reducing the supply of traditional food for consumers.

Faced with mounting difficulties, the industry recommends that livestock farmers absolutely do not increase or restore herds without ensuring biosafety and disease safety conditions. Farmers need to strengthen the work of disinfecting barns and livestock areas and strictly implement disease prevention measures. In addition, fully vaccinating livestock is also a necessary measure to minimize damage.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/nhieu-ho-chan-nuoi-ngam-ngui-lo-hen-voi-thi-truong-tet-post298764.html