Vietnamplus

Increasing meat imports are adding to the pressure on the country’s livestock industry brought by free trade agreements and the African swine flu epidemic, experts said.

The agriculture sector posted a year-on-year growth of 2.39 percent in the first half of 2019, despite facing numerous difficulties like global economic slowdown, impacts from US-China trade war, unfavourable weather, and especially the African swine fever.

African swine fever has not only caused livestock farming households to fall into debt, but has also made it difficult for animal feed dealers to collect their payments.

The African swine fever (ASF) in pigs has appeared in 55 out of 63 provinces and centrally run cities in the country, forcing the cull of 2.5 million pigs, or 7.5 percent of the total pig stocks, it was reported at a conference on fighting the disease and restoring the pig farming industry on June 13.

The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on May 8 commented on the Government’s reports which gave additional assessments on the socio-economic development and state budget situation in 2018 and the first months of this year.

African swine fever has been successfully controlled in Ngoc Thuy ward of Long Bien district and Phu Thi commune of Gia Lam district of Hanoi, the municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has announced.

Country Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Eric Sidgwick has recommended Vietnam push ahead with restructuring its economy to maintain stable growth in the medium and long terms.

The livestock sector produces more than 5 million tonnes of meat each year, meeting domestic demand, but the target is to increase export, according to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong.

Vietnamese authorities forces are ramping up efforts to tackle African swine fever, which is spreading in several localities.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan, Director of the Vietnam National University of Agriculture, has become the youngest woman to receive the Kovalevskaya Award, which honours outstanding female scientists.

The Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) has so far provided more than 5.1 trillion VND (219.3 million USD) in soft loans for hi-tech agricultural projects across Vietnam.

Mavin Group has become the first business in Vietnam to officially export fresh pork to a foreign market when the first batch was shipped to Myanmar, a success of not only the company but also the country’s animal farming sector.

A forum took place in Hanoi on May 30 to review implementation progress of the national One Health strategy on zoonotic diseases prevention.

Prolonged heatwave in the southern central province of Ninh Thuan over the past three months has led to drought, forcing many localities to suspend plant and animal farming.

More and more livestock farming companies are adopting VietGap and Global Gap standards to improve their efficiency as well as ensure food safety, according to global quality certification agency Bureau Veritas.

Ho Chi Minh City will subsidise interests on bank loans by up to 100 percent to support individuals and organisations who help transform its agricultural sector.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development expects the mass production of the first made-in-Vietnam vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease will start in the second quarter of 2018.

Next year, Vietnam expects to produce and provide a sufficient supply of vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease, an infectious and sometime fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle and pigs, as heard at a conference in Hanoi on December 18.

Experts and policy-makers from eight Southeast Asian countries gathered in a workshop on “The Role of Livestock in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Southeast Asia” in Hanoi on November 16.

Forty young Hanoians are going to carry out voluntary activities in Vientiane, Laos, as an illustration of the youth’s efforts to nurture the friendship between Vietnam and Laos.