September 13, 2011
Vietnamese feed output hits 10.6 million tonnes last year
A total production of 10.6 million tonnes of animal feed was made by 233 animal feed producers, fulfilling 53.8% of the total demand for Vietnamese livestock industry, according to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh.
The volume increased 11.5% from a year earlier, Deputy Minister Tan said, adding that 57 foreign-invested firms produced 6.4 million tonnes and 176 local firms produced the remaining 4.2 million tonnes.
Tan said Vietnam should provide sufficient loans with preferential interest rates for local animal feed producers to expand their production, upgrade production technology, and educate senior specialists in animal nutrition as well as to develop production areas for materials in a move to help them increase competitiveness.
As foreign-invested firms dominate the animal feed market, they control the output prices and as a result, many Vietnamese farmers working in livestock sectors have been forced to buy animal feed at very high prices.
Many of them already stopped raising domestic animals due to high production costs and frequent occurrence of animal disease outbreaks.