February 24, 2015
Vietnamese rice farmers urged: Turn to cattle raising
The head of an animal feed association in Vietnam has urged Vietnamese rice farmers to shift to cattle raising, claiming the latter brings more profit.
Le Ba Lich, chairman of the Vietnam Animal Feed Association, explained that the country was producing more rice and having difficulty exporting it, whereas it is importing 200,000 cattle heads yearly.
Lich proposed the conversion of ineffective rice cultivation areas into grass fields for raising beef cattle, since he said intensive livestock farming is significantly more profitable.
He said there are only 45,000 hectares of grasslands across Vietnam, which are able to feed only 45,000 cattle, based on the Australian model of one hectare of grasslan per one cow. The number is well below the domestic demand, he added.
The Department of Livestock Production also said that up to 54% of the country''s cattle population comprises local unproductive breeds.
Hybrids
Nguyen Dang Vang, chairman of the Animal Livestock Association of Vietnam, said hybrids can weigh up to 330 kilograms each if new technology is applied and local cattle are crossed with such breeds as Angus or Droughtmaster.
Under a government program initiated by the Office of the Prime Minister, Vietnamese farmers will get high-quality cattle sperm to hybridise their livestock from this year to 2020. Cutting-edge fodder-producing technology will also be made available to make the best use of agricultural residues.
The cattle sector aims to raise the proportion of hybrid cattle to 70% of the total and beef output to 319,000 tonnes (equivalent to about 5.6 million heads) by 2020.
Last year, Vietnam had about 5.16 million heads of cattle and produced 297,400 tonnes of beef- up 4.2% from the year before. It imported around US$300 million worth of live cattle and $50-million frozen beef.