To promote effective household livestock farming

(Baonghean) - Household farming is a traditional form of farming in the whole country in general and Nghe An in particular. This form of farming contributes 60 - 65% of the total value of livestock products in the area, but there are many limitations that need positive solutions.

Born and raised in Thanh Lien (Thanh Chuong), although every day they import tons of homemade noodles and cakes, Mr. Tran Van Tam's family is still "loyal" to raising chickens and pigs. In the 1990s of the last century, thanks to this job, he was able to build a spacious house. "Now I still raise chickens and pigs. It does not bring in a regular income like the noodle and cake business, but I can take advantage of the leftover food and rice water from the business. It is considered as a profit, each year the family earns tens of millions of dong from raising animals, and has manure to fertilize 3 sao of rice fields" - Mr. Tam happily said. The whole Thanh Lien commune has nearly 60 thousand poultry, over 20 thousand pigs, buffaloes, and cows, mainly being raised by households. Mr. Dinh Viet Nam, Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, said: In the community, households raise at most 300-500 chickens and ducks, the rest mainly have 50-70 chickens, ducks, a few pigs, a few buffaloes and cows. With the specific conditions of the commune, household farming is still a popular form.

Pig farming following VietGap standards in Giang Son Dong (Do Luong). Photo: Chau Lan

As a locality with a strongly developed livestock industry, especially in recent years, each batch of livestock, Dien Trung (Dien Chau) has nearly 150 thousand poultry. In recent years, concentrated livestock farming in the form of farms and ranches has developed very strongly in Dien Trung, the whole commune has 168 farms and ranches with a scale of 500 - 20 thousand birds/household. However, the number of households raising small-scale livestock in the form of farm households is still quite common in most of the remaining households. Since 2011, the commune has implemented the VietGAP process in household livestock farming and brought about many positive results. This has helped raise people's awareness in applying necessary technical measures, chickens gain weight faster while the rearing time is reduced, the amount of food consumed is less and especially, some groups of households have joined together, forming groups of households that cooperate in "going in and out together", buying breeds together, raising them together and finding concentrated and stable consumption sources together.

Household livestock farming, especially small-scale farming, is currently facing difficulties in disease prevention and control and ensuring the rural environment. However, it is still quite popular and not easy to replace. According to calculations, household livestock farming currently contributes 60-65% of the total value of livestock products, mainly serving domestic consumption. As a traditional, small-scale form of livestock farming, developing household livestock farming is very easy, so it is closely linked to the livelihoods of nearly 70% of farmers, creating jobs and income for thousands of workers. In addition to taking advantage of available and on-site labor and facilities, household livestock farming also takes advantage of on-site agricultural by-products as food, suitable for the level of people when relying mainly on experience, and also providing fertilizer for cultivation. Therefore, for Vietnam in general and Nghe An in particular, in the coming years, household livestock farming will continue to exist, and in the restructuring policy of the industry, the viewpoint is still to "gradually reduce" household livestock farming, not to end it. The orientation of the agricultural sector on restructuring the livestock industry still determines to maintain the two main methods: farms, family farms and household livestock farming, in the direction of implementing biosafety measures and applying technical measures on breeds, feed, environmental treatment, and disease prevention to ensure the effectiveness and safety of this form of livestock farming.

In order to raise livestock effectively, in line with the new trend, Head of the Department of Livestock, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Mr. Luu Cong Hoa said: In recent years, our province has implemented many policies to support livestock development, such as free support for artificial insemination of buffaloes and cows, import of buffaloes and bulls, support for importing foreign pigs... In particular, since 2011, VietGAP process has been implemented in household livestock in 4 districts of Dien Chau, Nam Dan, Do Luong and Nghi Loc, up to now it has been built in 10 communes, 30 Gap groups and 599 participating households. In addition, through agricultural extension programs of the National Agricultural Extension Center, Provincial Agricultural Extension Center, Livestock Breeding Center has organized the construction of many models of pig and chicken farming in the direction of biosafety, with the aim of supporting household livestock farming to implement technical measures to increase added value, economic efficiency as well as ensure food safety in a sustainable manner. In addition, through the VietGAP program and the Lifsap project, people have been supported to build nearly 1,000 biogas tanks, and through the National Biogas Program, nearly 5,000 tanks have been supported to build. Through these programs, they have contributed to improving breeds, quality of livestock products and protecting the environment.

In the coming time, livestock farmers need to proactively grasp and apply technical and technological measures on breeds, feed, disease prevention and environmental treatment... At the same time, to create safe products, it is necessary to form teams, cooperatives, and groups to create "all-in, all-out" products, purchase materials such as breeds, feed... of known origin, create relatively concentrated products, avoid intermediaries, thereby reducing input costs and increasing output efficiency. The most difficult thing in this issue is to change the awareness and habits of livestock farmers, helping them switch from traditional livestock farming, taking advantage of and relying mainly on experience, to oriented livestock farming to meet market demand. Livestock farmers must have capital to invest in barns, protect the environment, have knowledge about veterinary work, vaccination; Find and maintain, develop good native livestock breeds that suit consumer tastes such as black pigs, ducks, hill chickens... to avoid competition with industrial livestock farming as well as promote their own advantages. In particular, help farmers raise their awareness of association through organizing cooperatives according to the industry chain, increase market competitiveness, protect the interests of farmers in the market mechanism. Specialized agencies need to help farmers improve their technical level and understanding of the product market, help people in ensuring consistent quality, and facilitate consumption.

Phu Huong