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Feed industry sheds export dependence
The Vietnamese feed processing industry spends more than US$1 billion annually in the import of product material. The Livestock Breeding Department has decided to address this issue by taking initiatives in finding new material resources.
The feed expenses account for 70 per cent of the price of livestock products simply because of a shortage in domestic materials needed for making animal feed. This is why material is imported and prices are high, says Hoang Kim Giao, the head of the Livestock Breeding Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The continual rising price of feed is beyond the department’s control because it has to depend on imported materials, reports the Viet Nam Feed Association.
The department focuses on building up intensive farming areas of corn, soy-bean, grass with high productivity and taking advantage of agricultural by-products for materials, says Giao.
These areas will use new strains of corn which should raise the productivity to seven tonnes per ha from the present four tonnes, says Giao.
This will ensure the provision of 11.5 millions tonnes of corn per year which is 1.2 million tonnes over the domestic demand of corn, says La Van Kinh, Deputy Director of Viet Nam Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Corn, soy-bean and oil-cake of soy bean (used in protein feed) also play an important role in the animal feed industry. The feed proccessing industry only provides 261,000 tonnes, equivalent to 8 per cent of the domestic demand of 3.3 million tonnes.
At this moment, the price of soy-bean is very low at VND4,000 (US$0.25) per kg which is why farmers do not want to widen their areas. To solve this issue, the Cultivation Department will cooperate with the Livestock Breeding Department and enter into contractual agreements with soy-bean farmers as a way to ensure reasonable prices.
The Department is aware that it has to increase the grass area from the current 54,000 ha to the 450,000 ha of grass that is needed, says Tran The Duong, Deputy Head of the Livestock Breeding Department.
Applying biological methods that take advantage of waste agricultural products such as straw, trunks of corn and peanut has proven an effective way to lessen the dependence on export material market, says Doan Duc Vu, the head of Livestock Breeding Division of Viet Nam Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
These agricultural waste products can be fermented and then added with salt, cassava or maize flour to become animal feed, said Vu.
The Academy’s most up-to-date research shows that every six kgs of trunk of corn or peanut will be equivalent to one kg of mixed bran. This proves its economical value, says Vu.
In the long-term, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will invest in new technology to ensure the quality for processing of materials.
Under the plan, the proportion of the animal breeding industry will account for 42 per cent of the agriculture industry instead of its current 24 per cent.
The domestic demand for feed will increase by more than eight per cent by the year 2020. It is, however, hoped that with these measures, the feed production will meet the domestic demand, says Giao.
VNN
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