Vietnam's Livestock Sector Faces Cost Challenges Despite Growth
Vietnam's livestock sector is facing significant obstacles, despite recent growth and technological advancements. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has identified cost reduction and herd restructuring as top priorities to ensure a stable domestic meat supply and enhance export competitiveness.
The sector has seen notable progress, with the poultry population rising to 584.4 million birds and meat output reaching 2.46 million tonnes. Similarly, the pig population grew to over 32 million, with pork output at 5.18 million tonnes. However, most breeding and selection processes remain traditional, with limited use of high technology in genetic evaluation.
Costs, particularly feed expenses which account for 65-70% of total output costs, pose a significant challenge. This makes Vietnamese meat products more expensive than regional competitors. Weak value chain linkages and rising demands for quarantine, biosecurity, and environmental sanitation have further increased costs, especially for smallholder farmers. The sector aims to develop breeds for high-yield, high-quality, and balanced performance, while preserving genetic diversity and raising farmers' incomes.
The Ministry's priorities include reducing production costs and restructuring livestock herds. The sector is adopting advances in science and technology, including biotechnology and Industry 4.0 technologies, to address these challenges. Despite these efforts, the search for a company that introduced the 'contactless livestock farming' model was unsuccessful.
