Sustainable livestock development: What is the solution?, Part 1 – Many advantages, many difficulties

In recent years, the livestock sector in the province has made significant progress, reflected in the increasing proportion of production value in livestock, creating jobs and good income for many households. However, farmers still face many difficulties. This isIt requires all levels, functional branches, localities and livestock production establishments to take specific, timely and appropriate measures. for fast and sustainable livestock production.

Mr. Nguyen Quy Hoi's family, in Ca Phe hamlet, Minh Lap commune (Dong Hy), sells broiler chickens.

With the goal of restructuring the Agriculture sector, especially transforming livestock structure towards developing livestock with high productivity, quality and economic value, over the past time, the province has focused on exploiting the potential and advantages of land, labor and mobilizing maximum investment resources for livestock. However, due to many objective and subjective reasons, including significant impacts from natural disasters and epidemics, the development speed and value of the livestock industry are still "modest".

Haven't reached the full potential

As a province in the Northern Midlands and Mountains, with an agricultural production area of ​​over 300 hectares, accounting for about 80% of the total natural area, Thai Nguyen has many favorable conditions for livestock development. Livestock currently accounts for nearly 50% of the internal structure of the agricultural sector.

In particular, Thai Nguyen has an advantage over many other provinces and cities when there is Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry standing in the area. With a tradition of 54 years of construction and development, this place is a leading center for training and transferring science and technology in Vietnam in agriculture to the northern midland and mountainous provinces.

As a result, Thai Nguyen has more opportunities to apply and apply science and technology to animal husbandry, improve output, product quality as well as economic efficiency. In addition, the rapid development of the transport network, especially the regional transport system, has helped the province's livestock products reach consumers across the country.

In addition, the rapid development of industrial zones and clusters with a large number of employees is also a "fertile" land to consume livestock products.

Along with the long-term production experience and efforts of the breeders, in recent years, the province has paid attention to directing and focusing on implementing the livestock development strategy, including the planning of concentrated livestock areas and large-scale farms to improve livestock production efficiency, gradually reducing small-scale livestock production, especially bringing livestock farms out of residential areas.

Mr. Vu Duc Hao, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: Over the years, the province has implemented schemes and projects to promote the development of the livestock industry such as the Project on the development of key agricultural products in the 2021-2025 period (with pork, chicken and egg products); The project on management and construction of the cattle and poultry slaughtering system for the period 2018-2020, with a vision to 2030 in Thai Nguyen province… The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has actively advised the Provincial People's Council to issue supportive policies in the prevention and control of animal diseases; restore and maintain pig herds of great-grandparents, cavalry and grandparents; raising the efficiency of farming households; supporting the construction of disease-free livestock production facilities with VietGAP standards; creating chain links in livestock production; support management and construction of livestock and poultry slaughtering systems; encouraging enterprises to invest in agriculture, including livestock... with a budget of about 10-15 billion dong/year from the state budget.

All of the above potentials and advantages are favorable conditions for the province's livestock industry to develop, bringing value and high income to farmers. However, in reality, livestock production activities in the province are still limited, stemming from both objective and subjective reasons.

Small production, difficult to create concentrated goods area

Although there are many advantages for development, the total number of cattle and current farms in the province compared to previous years still has a decrease (decreased by 46 farms compared to 2018).

In recent years, the number of livestock farms in the province has continuously decreased.

According to the explanation of specialized agencies, in addition to the somewhat tighter regulations of the current Law on Livestock (requiring to relocate livestock production facilities out of unauthorized areas) leading to a sharp decrease in the rate of small-scale livestock production, the price of bran and livestock breeds has continuously increased while the selling price of products from pigs, chickens, and cows has dropped, causing farmers to struggle, having to reduce their herds, hold on to the barn, and have loans.

On the other hand, most of the livestock households are small-scale, and it is difficult to link up to sell products. Not to mention in recent years, the phenomenon of extreme weather has taken place many times, making livestock and poultry susceptible to diseases, some families have to destroy hundreds of pigs and thousands of chickens, so they are discouraged and no longer interested in re-herding.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hoan's family, in Trung Thanh hamlet, Hoa Binh commune (Dong Hy), has left the chicken coop empty for many months now.

At the time of our visit, half of the chicken coop owned by Hoang Thi Huyen's family, in Hiep Hoa hamlet, Phu Ly commune (Phu Luong), had been vacant for many months. Huyen said sadly: My family has raised chickens for many years. Previously, when the price of animal feed had not increased (only about 300 VND/bag of 25kg bran), I always kept raising 4.000 chickens/broiler. From 2022 until now, when the price of feed is "escalating", the price of chickens has dropped sharply (VND 48 thousand/kg), for every 1.000 chickens I have lost from VND 25-30 million, forcing me to reduce the total flock by half. Although I know that raising livestock is not profitable, I still have to maintain it, because otherwise my family will not have money to manage and repay the bank debt.

Not only under pressure from prices, complicated disease situation is also a big obstacle for farmers. After the "sweeping" of African swine fever in previous years, up to now, livestock households still have to constantly prevent, prevent and protect their livestock because of the potential disease risk, especially for small livestock households.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Quy, Dam Giao hamlet, Luc Ba commune (Dai Tu): I have stopped raising livestock because the more I raise the more losses. With 1.000 chickens per batch, I have to worry about 120 million VND for bran, while the price of chickens purchased by traders is only 48 thousand VND/kg, down 12 thousand VND/kg compared to before. Four farming households around my family with a scale of 1.000-2.000 chickens/farm also gave up.

Mr. Ly Van Nam, hamlet Bau 1, Van Yen commune (Dai Tu), said: In the past, my family's farm always maintained about 200 sows and more than 1.000 meat pigs, but from 2022 until now, the epidemic situation is complicated, sometimes there are rollers sick. Despite the vaccination and careful cleaning of the cage, this situation still recurs. Frustrated, I gradually sold out and now only have 30 sows left. Maybe, after I run out of pigs, I have to leave the barn empty for a while…

Surveying other livestock households, we found that it is extremely difficult for people to stop or give up livestock, because according to them, if livestock production is as favorable as before, people will have a good life from the economic value that livestock brings. The desire to enjoy supportive policies during difficult times, stabilizing prices for peace of mind in production is the common aspiration of farmers at this time.

Ms. Tran Thi Ha, from Ca Phe hamlet, Minh Lap commune (Dong Hy): The price of bran increased too high while the chicken products sold on the market were lower than the production cost, causing losses to farmers. I hope all levels and sectors will soon take measures to adjust the price of animal feed accordingly so that farmers will not struggle.

According to the statistics of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, out of a total of 728 livestock farms, there are only 116 farms and livestock establishments in the province that are VietGAP certified; 42 establishments are certified for disease-free breeding. Small-scale livestock production still dominates because people's awareness of biosecurity and disease safety is still limited.

Therefore, most livestock products are consumed by people through traders, leading to low profits or pressured prices. Along with that, the formation of chain links from production to consumption of products still faces many difficulties because a number of policies to encourage investment support in the field of slaughter and deep processing of livestock products have low support levels, which have not yet attracted investment enterprises; Most consumers still have the habit of using slaughtered meat of the day, which is sold in traditional and residential markets, which partly "holds back" the development of the convenience store system, which specializes in selling and introducing livestock products.

Currently, the whole province has only 22 production linkages in animal husbandry - slaughter - product consumption. The number of concentrated slaughterhouses can only be counted on one finger…

(There's more)