Raising chickens in a bio-safe manner

(Baonghean) - Nam Dan has a large poultry herd, but farmers mainly raise chickens on a small scale, with little investment, leading to low efficiency. In addition, the supply of breeds and disease prevention have not been paid attention to. In many years, chickens have died en masse due to disease, causing heavy economic losses for farmers. To help farmers gradually approach safe farming methods, recently, the Center for Rural Agriculture Support (Central Vietnam Farmers' Union) coordinated with the Farmers' Unions of Nam Thanh and Nam Thuong communes to build the project "Raising commercial broiler chickens in the direction of biosafety and applying VietGAP". The number of Luong Phuong chickens of the project is 4,000 for 9 farming households in 2 communes, each household receives an average of 300 - 500 chickens, some households receive 900 chickens. Participating households are supported with 100% of breeds, 30% of feed, and veterinary medicine to prevent diseases; Participate in training courses, access technical processes according to VietGap standards...

Checking the model of commercial broiler farming in the direction of biosafety and applying VietGap in Nam Thuong commune - Nam Dan.

To achieve the project's objectives, right from the beginning of implementation, the Center has coordinated with local authorities to conduct surveys, select points, and select participating households. Households selected to participate must meet the requirements, have good breeding cages, be isolated from houses and other livestock, have experience in raising chickens, be enthusiastic and hard-working; must commit to strictly following the technical procedures that have been trained, and at the same time update the growth status of the chicken flock.

As one of the five households participating in the Nam Thuong commune model, Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh (in hamlet 1) was given 500 chickens and 14 bags of feed. By strictly following the principles of barn hygiene and care, the chickens grew and developed well, without any disease outbreaks, with a survival rate of over 95%. Ms. Binh said: "Compared to the traditional farming method, the process of raising chickens in a safe biological way according to VietGAP has stricter requirements, but the economic efficiency has been significantly improved. Since the day I received chickens for the project, there were nights when I had to stay up to check if the temperature of the barn was suitable. I had to pay special attention to disease prevention, food and barn. When the chickens are young, they need meticulous care, from temperature to diet, the barn must be clean and warm. After more than 3 months of raising, the flock of chickens reached the weight required by the project, the hens reached 1.6-1.8kg/chicken, the roosters 2.2-2.5kg/chicken. Before Tet, I sold all the chickens, after accounting, I earned nearly 30 million VND"...

Having received 900 chickens from the model, Mr. Nguyen Huu Tinh in Hamlet 3, Nam Thuong Commune also confirmed that this year his family had a bumper crop of chickens. Having raised chickens for more than ten years, he has never been as successful as this time. Although it is more difficult, the model's efficiency has increased by one and a half times compared to the traditional method. For example, my family harvested nearly 2 tons of chickens, worth more than 100 million VND," Mr. Nguyen Huu Tinh added.

Distributing animal feed to support people participating in the project in Nam Dan.

The 9 households participating in the project "Developing biosafety chicken farming and applying VietGAP" in Nam Thanh and Nam Thuong communes are all good producers and traders, with experience in raising chickens. However, when participating in the project, the households realized many things that they did not know before, such as the coop must have a roof and curtains; feeding tools must be hygienic, the coop is regularly disinfected with lime and disinfectants; there is a net to let the chickens out into a garden of 400-800m2/200 chickens. Mr. Nguyen Hong Dung (Hamlet 5A - Nam Thanh commune) also confided: "The profit is still modest, but the biggest benefit of this raising process is ensuring high safety for the chicken flock. Through training courses, we have gained more knowledge about how to take care of chickens in each stage; how to prevent common diseases that chickens often get. Currently, my family is continuing to expand the scale of raising chickens applying VietGAP to 1,500 chickens".

According to the plan, the chickens raised for sale are expected to weigh 1.5 kg/hen and 2 kg/rooster. After 3 months of implementation, by the end of December 2012, the project had organized an acceptance test. The results showed that the survival rate of all 9 households reached over 95%, the average weight of hens was 1.6 - 1.8 kg/chicken, and 2 - 2.4 kg/chicken. Economic calculation of the model, with the market price at the time from 70,000 - 80,000 VND/kg, the total amount of money earned from the project was over 500 million VND; after deducting expenses, each household earned an average profit of nearly 20 million VND. According to Mr. Vo Van Son - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Nam Thanh commune, from the initial results achieved by the model, it has helped farmers improve their technical knowledge of caring for, raising and preventing diseases for chicken flocks, promoting the development of the movement of raising broiler chickens in the direction of bio-safety, contributing to stabilizing the lives of local people.

Article and photos: Ngoc Anh