"Saving" chicken farming

How can chicken farming compete with imported chicken, especially in the face of the recent storm of imported American chicken? Last weekend, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat chaired a conference to discuss solutions.

Domestic chicken farming is facing fierce competition from imported chicken.

* Cannot raise "armed chickens, bunker-digging pigs"

According to Minister Cao Duc Phat, Vietnamese chicken farming is in a situation of “survival or non-existence”, especially in the face of the recent wave of imported chickens from the US, which requires immediate action. Worried about the competitiveness of domestic chicken farming, the Minister cited: “Household farming accounts for 70% of the total herd, but only contributes 40% to domestic output. I asked some localities about the situation of farming, some places said that 80-90% of farming is still in the style of buffaloes banging gongs, dogs climbing ladders, chickens running with weapons, pigs digging trenches. How can we compete like that?”

Listening to the opinions of many businesses, scientists, and managers, Minister Cao Duc Phat has proposed groups of urgent solutions to quickly consolidate and improve competitiveness, helping domestic chicken farming stand firm against the storm of imported chickens. Urgently investigate imported American chickens. The Minister directed that in terms of veterinary medicine, in the current context, the Department of Animal Health should not only be stuck in the fight against epidemics, but must also find a way to both prevent epidemics and reduce veterinary costs to the lowest possible level.

Therefore, in the coming time, the Department of Animal Health must continue to review fees and charges, because the way the veterinary sector has been doing things in the past is not good. Anything that does not serve the people must be resolutely eliminated. Furthermore, we must study technical barriers, protect domestic production, and open the door to export. This is the time to raise the issue of export, because Vietnam's livestock production is enough to meet domestic demand, and if we want to grow and create a shift in the agricultural sector, the only way is to export. Currently, there are businesses that want to export chicken breasts, because in the US, they only need to sell two chicken breasts to break even, so why don't we export chicken breasts to the US and the EU? The Department of Animal Health must immediately have specialized staff to resolve this issue in order to open the export market for livestock products, first of all chicken.

Accordingly, immediately compile the documents of enterprises wishing to export, submit the documents to all countries wishing to import. First is the Department of Animal Health, then the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and then the Government will negotiate and open the market for exported livestock products. Because this issue cannot be done by enterprises themselves, but must be provided by the Government. For the recently imported American chicken, the Department of Animal Health will send a delegation to the US to quickly clarify the situation of the flu epidemic in the US, inspect the livestock and processing facilities exported to Vietnam to see if they meet the requirements on disease safety, food hygiene and safety according to Vietnamese law or not, if so, they will definitely stop importing.

Domestically, the Department of Animal Health must strengthen quality supervision. It cannot be allowed that since the beginning of the year, more than 45 thousand tons of chicken thighs have been imported from the US, but the Department of Animal Health has only taken 35 samples and analyzed only a few quality indicators. In the coming time, more samples must be taken and multiple quality factors must be analyzed. It is necessary to clarify in which cases 5% samples should be taken, in which cases 10% should be taken..., or if there is a violation, it must be immediately raised to 100% control.

Urgent investigation into whether or not American chicken is being dumped (Illustration photo)

How other countries treat us, we must treat them the same. In addition, the Department of Animal Health and the Department of Livestock Production will coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to continue investigating whether or not there is dumping of imported American chicken.

Support farmers, promote industrial livestock farming

Regarding the form of production organization, there are currently 3 main forms: household, farm and industrial, but the economic efficiency of industrial farming is still higher. Therefore, the general orientation will still be towards farm farming, then move towards industry. However, household farming cannot be abandoned because of social and employment issues.

Therefore, it is necessary to continue to urgently implement policies for both farm and household livestock farming, because 70% of the number of farms in Vietnam are livestock farms. Specifically, it will urgently submit to the Prime Minister on policies for developing farm livestock farming. Any localities that have policies should continue to vigorously implement them. The Department of Livestock Production must urgently contact the Ministry of Finance to promptly issue a circular guiding the implementation of Decision No. 50/2014/QD-TTg of the Government on policies to support household livestock farming; vigorously implement Decree 210/2013/ND-CP on policies to encourage investment in agriculture. Regarding production linkage, the Department of Livestock Production must immediately draft a policy to supplement Decision 62/2013/QD-TTg on policies for production linkage associated with agricultural product consumption for livestock farming, and submit it to the Government for approval, because this decision is currently only applicable to rice.

Regarding the breed issue, many opinions say that our chicken breed is very weak, the high price is mainly due to the breed. In just 4 months, 11 ASEAN countries will be a common market, then ASEAN - China, ASEAN - Japan, and soon TPP... will be a common market. We have to compete directly with them, which means we have to compete in breeding technology, first of all in breeds, we have to make sure that the quality of our breeds is like theirs. There is no other way but to import breeds. The Department of Animal Husbandry, the Institute of Animal Husbandry, the Academy of Agriculture... are responsible for introducing to businesses the best breeds, the most suitable for Vietnam, then let them import them. Any breeds that businesses cannot import, they should be imported through the support of the State. I agree and support the import of calves from Australia to raise in Vietnam, if Vietnamese people like to eat Australian beef, it is better than having to import Australian beef to fatten.

The same goes for chicken breeds, we can no longer wait for domestic research, only by importing the best foreign breeds can we hope to compete. In addition, localities need to strengthen breed management, especially chicken breeds that are very exposed, we propose that the Department of Animal Husbandry soon work with the provinces to immediately rectify the current situation of chicken breeds. Regarding feed, the Agricultural Extension Department must disseminate to the people how to raise chickens and what they eat. Institutes and schools have already issued feed formulas, but how to let the people know that formula is the task of the Agricultural Extension Department...

According to Nongnghiep.vn