Nghe An: People are afraid to restore pig herds after Tet

Pig prices are "plummeting", causing farmers to suffer losses. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Sold 20 pigs for the Lunar New Year, but after 1 month, Mr. Le Thanh Hung's farm in Lien Khai hamlet, Thanh Lien commune (Thanh Chuong) still left the barn empty, not yet re-herded. Mr. Hung said: "If every year, selling this batch means cleaning up the barn, raising another batch right away, never leaving the barn empty. But now, the price of pigs is too low, only 42,000 VND/kg, animal feed is high, veterinary medicine is also increasing, the more you raise, the more you lose, so you have to "hang up the barn" for a while, see how the situation is before raising again."

The price of pork has dropped, farmers are losing money, so most farms are still hesitant to raise another batch. People have not yet restocked their herds, so piglets are unsold and difficult to sell.

Many livestock farming households, farms, and ranches have not dared to re-raise their herds, and are still leaving their barns empty after Tet. Photo: Thanh Phuc

To reduce the burden during the difficult time of raising pigs, also in Lien Khai hamlet, Thanh Lien commune, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hue's family has reduced from 3 sows to 1. After Tet, the sow gave birth to 10 piglets. In previous years, before the pig gave birth, people had told her and paid a deposit, just waiting for the right date to take her home to raise. However, at this time, she has only sold 4 pigs, the remaining 6 pigs have not been bought by anyone, so she has to raise them for meat.

Ms. Hue said: “In previous years, when 3 sows gave birth to 30 piglets, the villagers would compete to buy them and put down a deposit before the piglets gave birth. But this year, there are still 6 unsold piglets even though the price is only 700,000 VND/10kg piglet.”

The cost of a breeding pig from insemination to sale is up to 1 million VND. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Although he has been doing business in breeding pigs and supplying pig semen on a large scale, Mr. Nguyen Van Nhat in Hop Khanh hamlet, Nghia Khanh commune (Nghia Dan) has never seen business as sluggish as this year. From a scale of 100 sows in 2021, he has now proactively reduced it to half. On average, each year, he supplies about 1,000 breeding pigs to the market, and at this time, his farm has 300 breeding pigs ready for sale.

However, due to the decrease in people's demand for herd restoration, the consumption of breeding pigs is very difficult. "The cost of a breeding pig from mating to selling is about 1 million VND, with the current price of breeding pigs, it is a loss, and consumption is very slow. Therefore, I am considering switching to raising pigs for meat. However, it is also very difficult to raise pigs for meat at this time," Mr. Nhat shared.

Many sow farms are facing difficulties as breeding pigs are difficult to sell. Photo: Thanh Phuc

With 30 sows, on average, each year they produce 200 breeding pigs, mainly to supply to households in the commune. When breeding pigs have a good price, this is the main source of income for Mr. Dang Van Dung's family (Nghia Binh, Tan Ky). However, at this time, the price of breeding pigs is low and difficult to sell, so sows become a cost burden for the farm when it is difficult to sell, the price is low, and switching to raising pigs for meat is a loss.

Low prices and difficult consumption mean that farms and ranches are now tending to sharply reduce their sow herds.

People need to calculate to protect the sow herd, ensuring adequate supply when the demand for herd restoration increases. Photo: Thanh Phuc

However, according to the recommendations of the livestock industry, people should calculate appropriately so that when the pig market "warms up" and people return to re-herd, they can still ensure enough supply of breeding pigs; avoiding the situation of shortage of breeding pigs and price fever as happened in 2020./.

Thanh Phuc