Commercial cattle and buffalo farming: Need for synchronous solutions

(Baonghean) -With advantages in food sources, human resources, and land, Thanh Chuong has identified large-scale cattle breeding as a spearhead in agricultural development. The district has issued Resolution 02 and a project on developing commercial cattle and buffalo breeding in the 2011-2015 period; At the same time, a Steering Committee was established to put the resolution into practice. However, up to now, the total herd of cattle and buffaloes is showing a decreasing trend...

Currently, the total herd of buffalo and cows in the district is 74,423, compared to the time of project development, it has decreased by 10,223 (12.1%), compared to the project's target of 67.7% by 2015. There are 27/40 communes and towns with a total herd of buffalo and cows decreasing, including communes with sharp decreases such as Thanh Ngoc with a decrease of 49.7%, Hanh Lam with a decrease of 32.9%; Thanh Tuong with a decrease of 33.9%, Thanh Thinh with a decrease of 33%... In general, buffalo and cow farming in the district is still small, spontaneous, and has not yet formed large-scale farms that meet the criteria. There is only 1 household with a scale of 20-30 cows in the district, 121 households with a scale of 10-20 cows and 392 households with a scale of 5-10 cows. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Ha - Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee frankly admitted: "Livestock in general, buffalo and cow farming in particular, has not yet developed commensurate with the advantages and potentials of the locality and is not sustainable. The total herd has not met the project plan and is expected to not meet the targets set out in the Resolution of the 29th District Party Congress".

Buffalo herd of Mr. Nguyen Dang Tung - Hamlet 12, Ngoc Son Commune.

The reason is that people's awareness is still limited, they still maintain old farming practices, and have not yet determined the importance of commercial cattle and buffalo farming for economic development; the application of new scientific and technical advances in livestock farming is still slow and not synchronous, lack of capital, fluctuating market prices affect the psychology of livestock farmers, the trend of agricultural labor is decreasing; the work of breeding cattle by artificial insemination and improving cattle breeds, although being concerned and directed, has not met the requirements. In addition, the area of ​​natural grasslands has decreased, hilly land is mainly used to grow raw materials, and fragmented sand dunes have no source of irrigation water; the State's support mechanisms and policies for livestock farmers are not satisfactory, which also significantly affects the development of commercial cattle and buffalo herds.

Learning about the reality at the grassroots level, Mr. Nguyen Phuong Lieu - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Thanh Tuong commune frankly said: The policy of setting a target of increasing the total herd applied to all localities is not suitable to the reality, because not all places have enough conditions to develop, expand the scale, and increase the herd. For example, in Thanh Tuong, the land is narrow, the population is large (on average, each household has 200m2), in the area there are no hills and mountains, but there are two strongly developed craft villages: vermicelli and carpentry, the number of households changing occupations accounts for a large proportion, so there are no conditions for large-scale breeding. And when the scale of agricultural households decreases, the total herd of buffalo and cows also decreases sharply every year, up to now, only 363/800 households raise buffalo and cows (180 buffaloes, 387 cows), the largest household only raises up to 5 cows. In addition, Mr. Lieu also said that raising buffalo and cows requires a large amount of capital, while the economic conditions of the people are still difficult. The district has a policy of supporting loans for families who want to raise buffalo and cows, but the loan procedures and interest rate subsidies are complicated and cumbersome. Therefore, initially, there were 11 households who borrowed, but then they all gave up...

Although Ngoc Son commune has the potential and advantages to develop large-scale livestock farming (2,300 hectares of natural land, nearly 800 hectares of agricultural land, with alluvial land along the river for growing good food), and has received support in breeding stock from the Central Animal Husbandry Institute through the implementation of a project to improve the quality of local buffalo herds, it still faces difficulties in developing the total herd of buffalo and cows. Mr. Nguyen The Dong - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: "We do not lack land but lack capital and labor. Currently, the number of agricultural workers in the age group is about 4,000 people, but at home, they are mainly the elderly and children." Therefore, in Ngoc Son, most of the livestock is raised in barns, with a few animals at home. Only a few households raise livestock according to the farm model, such as Mr. Nguyen Dang Tung raising 8 animals, Le Dinh Hau raising 12 animals... Many households raise them seasonally after the summer-autumn harvest, buy buffalo and cows to fatten for a few months and then sell them. On the other hand, according to Mr. Dong, implementing the policy of bringing mechanization into agriculture, the need for raising buffaloes and cows combined with using them for traction is no longer as high as before. Currently, the whole Ngoc Son commune has 50 multi-function plows, and other localities are in a similar situation (according to statistics, the whole district has about 700 multi-function plows serving agricultural production).

Many households believe that although raising buffalo and cows has great economic value, the price fluctuates, and if there is a risk of falling prices or disease, the damage is not small, so they do not dare to risk expanding the scale. A few years ago, the district also had a project to support buffalo and cow farm owners, but not many households were successful, and some even went bankrupt. For example, Mr. Nguyen Dang Tung - Hamlet 12, Ngoc Son Commune borrowed 60 million VND from the project plus money borrowed from relatives and friends to invest 120 million VND to raise 10 cows but only sold 28 million VND. Therefore, although he is the owner of a farm of more than 10 hectares, Mr. Tung decided to grow raw materials for sustainability, only raising 7 more buffalo and cows for fattening and breeding, combined with raising chickens and ducks to increase income, but not expanding the scale of raising large livestock. The results of implementing the mechanism and policy of purchasing additional buffaloes and cows for goods in Thanh Chuong show that from 2011 to the first 6 months of 2013, there were only 20 communes and towns with 1,439 households borrowing, the total number of buffaloes and cows purchased was 2,439, mainly concentrated in communes with large natural areas such as Thanh Thuy, Ngoc Son, Thanh Ha... while the number of loans in other localities was insignificant, some localities had only 1 household borrowing.

Faced with that situation, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Ha - Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee said: "In order for the project to develop buffalo and cow breeding in Thanh Chuong district to achieve the goals set out in the Resolution of the 29th District Party Congress, in the coming time, in addition to solutions to increase the total herd, Thanh Chuong is also focusing on improving the quality of the herd of buffalo and cows for sale in the area to increase the value and economic efficiency of each breeding household and of the locality".

For localities that do not have favorable conditions to increase the total herd, focus on quality and value rather than on the number of heads. In addition, increase the application of scientific and technological advances in livestock farming, especially new breeds with high productivity and economic efficiency and good disease prevention and control.Encourage and create all necessary conditions for investors to build livestock farms in the form of meat and milk to exploit and promote all potentials and strengths of the district on the basis of ensuring environmental hygiene and product output. Mobilize and encourage people to convert agricultural land area to intensive grass cultivation for livestock farming. Many localities also recommended that the district build and complete breeding points, concentrated slaughterhouses for cattle and poultry; soon plan and upgrade Thanh Luong buffalo and cow market, establish more buffalo and cow markets on the right bank, creating favorable conditions for breeders in trading, buying and selling, forming livestock - product consumption chains. And should capital sources, investment policies, and support to serve the project's objectives not be spread out but focused on key areas, which really have advantages and conditions to develop commercial buffalo and cow herds that both bring high economic value and make full use of the local potential.

Article and photos: Khanh Ly