The agricultural sector is in need of restructuring in order to meet the demands of the market and the safety standards, not focusing on temporary trend and the quantity like before.
A Cocoa garden in Dinh Quan district.
Not focusing on quantity.
The Provincial People's Committee has just dispatch a document to departments, local authorities on the suspension of supporting enterprises investing in agriculture and rural fields and pig breeding projects in the province. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Vinh, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: "According to the plan to 2020, pigs of Dong Nai will reach a total number of 2 million units. But by early 2017, Dong Nai’s number of pigs has reached 2 million. This is the main reason leading to the excess in the market; consequently, pork prices are at the lowest rate. The livestock sector needs to be adjusted, more specifically reducing the total population to balance supply and demand. By this way, the price of fresh pork can flourish.
Overcoming the market shock, pig farm owners themselves have to adjust the production. Mr. Nguyen Kim Doan, Vice Chairman of Dong Nai Livestock Association, commented: "At present, small scale breeding has been reduced, many pig raising households have left their pig sheds unoccupied after a long period of losses. Although the price of fresh pork is better than last month but still at low rate, many big farms have had to reduce the number of sows and pigs. The crisis has just screened the livestock sector, only farms that invest in professional production can survive.
Not only the livestock sector, the province is also planning cultivation in the direction of building a safe link chain that guarantees the consumption of products. Mr. Nguyen Huu Dinh, Director of Provincial Sub-Department of Rural Development, said: "Since 2016, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has received dozens of projects registered to make large fields for various types of trees. More specifically, 12 projects have been approved by the PPC with a total area of over 5,500 hectares, with the participation of about 5,000 households. Beside that, many projects have brought about good results thanks to the formation of tight linkage. "
Difficulties remain
According to the report of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, for the first six months, the production value of agriculture, forestry and fishery reached over 17,166 billion VND, increasing by 2.48% over the same period but still much lower compared to the average annual growth rate of nearly 4% per year. Particularly, seafood production still maintained a good growth rate of 5.8%, the growth rate of other sectors was low. Specifically, the cultivation sector only increased by 1.52%, breeding increased by 2.59% over the same period.
Agricultural production is facing many difficulties due to climate change. Only for the first 6 months of the year, 34,000 hectares of cashew were damaged. Many other crops, such as mango, coffee, rambutan, durian, are affected in terms of yield, but the main difficulty is still the market crisis. The agriculture sector has coordinated with the industry and trade association, the Livestock Association to introduce a variety of products to farmers.
Mr. Tran Van Quang, Director of Dong Nai Sub-Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, said: "The livestock industry in the province has gradually stabilized, the total number of pigs has decreased to over 1.6 million. Pig prices have also recovered to the point where pig farmers start to make a profit. The livestock sector has gradually turned towards professional and large scale. Specifically, the proportion of farm-scale husbandry accounts for nearly 73% of the total herd of pigs and nearly 83% of the total herd of chickens. "
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