Breeding industry needs to rely more on technologies

Hanoi (VNA) – Breeding industry in Vietnam should capitalize on science and technologies to achieve sustainable development and improve productivity and competitiveness.

Hoang Thanh Van, head of the Animal Breeding Department at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, made a remark at a ceremony on December 15 in which the breeding sector marked its 10th founding anniversary and received Third Class Labour Order.

The upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement as well as free trade agreements (FTAs) will pose new challenges to local breeders and food businesses as more international rivals will enter the country, Van said.

He suggested the sector to establish breeding cooperatives that facilitate the closed-loop production chain from farm to fork.

According to deputy head of the Animal Breeding Department Nguyen Xuan Duong, the industry has developed remarkably over the past 10 years to satisfy rising domestic demand.

The entire sector grew 3-5 percent annually from 2011-2015. Fresh milk output recorded the highest growth rate of 22.1 percent during the period, followed by poultry meats (10.07 percent), eggs (7.56 percent) and pork (2.72 percent), Duong added.

It was estimated to earn approximately 205.4 trillion VND (9.1 billion USD) by the end of this year, he noted.

However, the small-scale pig breeding households who raised less than 10 pig heads represented 86.4 percent out of 4.1 million households but only produced 34.2 percent of the total output.

Out of 8 million small-scaled poultry farms in the country, those breed less than 100 individuals accounted for 89.62 percent but only contributed 30 percent to the total output.

The rampant small-scale production has limited the application of technologies at the farms while activities to control epidemics and food safety have remained inefficient.-VNA