Part I: Illegal cattle cross the border through the forest

• November 8, 2011 15:19

(Baonghean) -Every day, on average, hundreds of cows are herded by local people through unofficial routes across the border near Nam Can border gate. Then, with just a few "tricks", these cows and buffaloes are easily legalized as local cows and buffaloes to be brought downstream, while the foot and mouth disease epidemic is still complicated.

Buffaloes and cows cross the border

In mid-October, we went to Nam Can Border Gate (Ky Son). It was midday when we arrived at Tien Tieu village (about 2km from the border gate). Here, we saw herds of buffalo and cows gathered on both sides of the road. Some were being herded onto cars, all of them looked plump and fat. Vu Pa Re "revealed": "These are Laotian cows". Thinking we were "big customers", Re excitedly said: "We had to go all the way to Xieng Khouang and Vientiane (Laos) to buy them. We traveled for a whole week, and on lucky days we could only buy a dozen. Whenever we were able to herd them across the border, a broker would come by car to pick them up. That said, the journey was very difficult, we had to wade through forests and wade through streams, and get bitten by leeches until our bodies swelled. The "cow-going" people all herded the cows back and gathered at Din Dam village (Nong Het district, Laos), then continued to herd them back through the forest along the two sides of the Nam Can Border Gate"...

Pretending to be a person buying cows for slaughter and sale, we approached Mr. Lau Ba Gi (Tien Tieu village, Nam Can commune, Ky Son district). Mr. Gi said: "There are a lot of cows there, they sell them for 10-20 million VND/head. Because they don't have enough money, relatives pool their capital to buy, each person about 20-30 million. Many people who don't have money go to work leading cows and buffaloes for the owners, after leading each cow across the border, they are paid from 60-100 thousand VND. After having the goods, the brokers come to choose the cows and then bargain, when both sides "agree to buy and sell", the cows and buffaloes will be gathered on both sides of the road, waiting for enough goods, the brokers will bring their vehicles to transport them back. Each cattle and buffalo gathering area has from 15 to 30 cows, marked with codes and symbols of each broker.

When we wanted to go to Laos to buy cows to sell, Mr. Gi stopped us: "Only the Mong people know the way and the language, you just stay here and wait for the goods to be brought back." Nam Can commune has 3 villages (Tien Tieu, Truong Son, Huech Poc) mainly inhabited by Mong people who trade cows the most in the commune. Thanks to this profession, many households have become well-off.

According to the local people here, Nam Can Border Gate is the largest supplier of buffaloes and cows in the Central region. The goods are mainly supplied to the Northern provinces, and many shipments are even sent to Ho Chi Minh City. Each buffalo and cow weighing from 80 to 100 kg costs 12 to 16 million VND. Each truck carries 15 to 20 buffaloes, and when the goods are in high demand, the profit is from 10 to 20 million VND.

We followed some Mong people who hired them to herd cattle to a few other "gathering" locations. Here, the cattle were herded into paddocks, each holding from a few dozen to more than 50 cattle. We saw several cars full of cattle with their engines running. The process of herding cattle across the border and loading them onto the cars was very public and no authorities checked.



People herd buffalo and cows openly without any inspection by authorities.



Buffaloes and cows were gathered on both sides of the road waiting for traders from the lowlands to come and transport them.

Laotian cows "transformed" into Vietnamese cows

Lau Ba Gi "raised the price": "You can buy as many buffaloes and cows as you want, but to trust them, you have to deposit from 500,000 to 1 million VND per cow". "What if when we get to Muong Xen Town, the authorities check and discover that the buffaloes and cows are of unknown origin?" - We asked. Lau Ba Thai (Huech Poc village, Nam Can commune), a "cow herder", laughed: "You only need a cow sale paper with the confirmation stamp and signature of the commune chairman to be able to take them downstream without being arrested".

Mr. Nguyen The Do - Head of Nghe An Veterinary Department
The border terrain between Laos and the border districts of Nghe An province, especially the key area of ​​Nam Can commune, Ky Son district, is quite favorable for small-scale walking of buffaloes and cows from the other side of the Lao border into Nghe An, so traders can easily take advantage of this to collect, avoid quarantine and transport them at night.
Meanwhile, the veterinary force is too thin, not having enough authority to request the stopping of vehicles on the road; the coordination between functional forces is not tight, and the import of buffalo and cows from Laos is not controlled, making quarantine implementation even more difficult.

Then Lau Ba Thai showed us in detail: "Once the two parties have agreed on a price, the cow seller will write a cow sale paper for the buyer. All that is needed is to have the cow sale paper and submit it to the commune for confirmation stamp. The commune will collect a fee of about 25 thousand for each cow, or it can collect by vehicle (small vehicle about 150 thousand/vehicle, large vehicle 200 thousand/vehicle). This is a "passport" to "pass" the inspection checkpoint of the authorities. That's why there is a funny story, because of making fake papers, there is a Mong household here who does not have enough to make a living, but still signs a paper to sell hundreds of cows in 7 months.

Talking to us about the issue of people going across the border to buy cows to sell, Mr. Ho Chong Nhia, Chairman of the People's Committee of Nam Can commune admitted: "People trading buffaloes and cows has been around for a long time and has become a custom and practice. Out of 4 villages in the commune, 3 of them are Mong people. Some people go to Laos to buy buffaloes and cows to sell through unofficial routes and mountain trails." Regarding the issue of whether or not the commune "assisted" in stamping and confirming that the buffaloes and cows were local cows after being purchased, Mr. Nhia said: "The commune only stamps after receiving confirmation that the cows are local cows from the village chief. The amount of money the commune collects is the parking fee, small vehicles collect 100,000 VND, large vehicles collect 150,000 VND. This amount is assigned by the district and paid to the Treasury at the end of the year. In 2011, Nam Can commune was assigned by the district to collect 36 million VND, but so far it has only collected nearly 25 million VND."

Mr. Nhia added: "Every day, Nam Can commune sells an average of 20 cows. Currently, Nam Can commune has 723 households, but the number of buffaloes and cows in the commune is up to 4,000." Thus, on average, each household raises 5-7 buffaloes and cows, several times more than communes in the plains. However, when asked about the poverty rate of the commune, Mr. Nhia said that up to 95% of households in the commune are poor.

We observed the Nam Can Border Gate area for nearly a day but did not see any authorities come to check the origin and quarantine of the above buffaloes and cows. A leader of the Nam Can Border Gate Customs Branch said: "Buffaloes and cows often travel from Laos via unofficial routes, but when checked, all of these buffaloes and cows were confirmed by the local authorities as local buffaloes and cows. The Branch has detained many cases but then had to release them. It is very difficult to distinguish between Laotian cows and cows raised by local people. Therefore, ending the illegal trade of buffaloes and cows across the border is not easy."

At Nam Can Border Gate, there is the Animal Quarantine Station (under the Veterinary Department of Region 3). When we entered the station, there was no one there. According to people living nearby, this station usually only has one officer named Hanh on duty and stationed here. But now, Mr. Hanh has gone back to the lowlands and may not return for a few more days.

The situation of smuggling and transporting buffalo and cows across the border in large numbers in Nam Can commune has not been strictly controlled. The consequences of disease outbreaks from buffalo and cows are inevitable. The province and relevant agencies need to soon have effective solutions to prevent buffalo and cows from being smuggled through Nam Can border gate, avoiding the spread of disease when these cows have been "naturalized".
(continued)

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