3 associations jointly propose land fund in livestock farming

Recently, the President of the Vietnam Livestock Association, the Vietnam Poultry Association, and the Vietnam Large Livestock Association jointly signed a document sent to the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment with recommendations on land funds and environmental impact assessment in livestock farming.

Accordingly, the Chairman of the three major livestock associations in Vietnam proposed considering adding a list of land for livestock farming to the draft Land Law (amended).

According to representatives of the three associations above, the reason is that currently, the livestock production value accounts for about 24% of the entire agricultural, forestry and fishery sector, while there is no clear land fund for livestock.

While countries around the world devote a very large proportion of land to livestock; especially in European countries, grasslands and animal feed crops usually account for 50-70% of agricultural land, in particular, Ireland has over 90% of agricultural land for grasslands and animal feed crops...

It is necessary to clarify the term land for concentrated livestock farming so that localities can apply it in planning.

In addition, the three associations said that the land fund for the need to relocate livestock facilities out of areas where livestock farming is not allowed, the deadline for implementation is January 1, 2025, is very large, this is considered a "great relocation in agricultural production" of our country.

Therefore, representatives of the three associations recommended that it is necessary to include in the explanation of the terms of the Land Law the concept of land for concentrated livestock farming for localities to apply in planning, because concentrated livestock farming has a highly specific nature: "It is agricultural land, can build long-term barns, ensuring hygiene requirements for disease prevention for humans, livestock and the ecological environment..." .

The document gives opinions that if there are no clear regulations, in reality, localities and the livestock industry will not be able to handle the shortcomings in land and premises for the needs of building barns, expanding production and completing the relocation of livestock facilities out of prohibited livestock areas according to the provisions of the Law on Livestock and the Law on Environment.

According to the information from the document, regarding the environmental impact assessment of livestock facilities, according to the presidents of the three associations, the environmental impact assessment of livestock facilities is very necessary to limit the impact of livestock activities on the environment, especially since Vietnam has committed to bringing net emissions to zero by 2050, and livestock is one of the sectors that has a significant impact on this issue, so it cannot be left uncontrolled.

However, reviewing regulations on environmental impact assessment for livestock facilities, truly suitable to the requirements and practical conditions of Vietnam, ensuring feasibility for livestock farmers to strictly implement will bring much more positive results than setting regulations that are too high that livestock farmers cannot do or are too costly to do, then they will cope, making environmental control work more complicated and easily giving rise to negative effects.

The current assessment of environmental impacts on livestock facilities by ministerial agencies is causing difficulties for both the assessment agencies and livestock farmers, because the number of livestock facilities nationwide is very large, so the Ministry should decentralize this task to local environmental management agencies.

According to representatives of the three associations, compared to other economic sectors in integration, the livestock industry is more exposed to risks and environmental treatment is also more costly, so the State should have specific support policies on environmental control for the livestock sector, helping livestock farmers reduce difficulties to invest in restoring and developing production.

Currently, domestic livestock production is facing many shortcomings and is becoming increasingly difficult. Many livestock households and businesses are suffering from continuous losses and are at risk of mass bankruptcy in the near future. One of the reasons that has a direct impact on livestock farming activities is that Vietnam's livestock farming space is increasingly narrowing and livestock farming conditions are becoming increasingly strict .

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/3-hiep-hoi-dong-loat-kien-nghi-ve-quy-dat-trong-chan-nuoi-a603979.html