In recent times, livestock farms have appeared more and more in the province. However, not all businesses and individuals have enough resources to build farms that meet livestock farming standards.
Officers of the provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine inspect the assurance of livestock farming conditions at a farm in Hai Dinh commune, Hai Lang district - Photo: TL
" Red eyes" looking for a standard farm
Deputy Head of the Provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine Dao Van An said that recently, the department has regularly coordinated with units and localities to inspect the operating conditions of farms and livestock facilities. During the most recent inspection, the members of the delegation were very worried when they "searched hard" to find only one farm that met livestock conditions in Hai Le commune, Quang Tri town.
In addition to this farm, the remaining 40 small and medium-sized farms on the inspection list have not yet met livestock farming conditions. The above-mentioned farms are concentrated in Dong Ha City and the districts of Cam Lo, Vinh Linh, Gio Linh, Hai Lang, Trieu Phong, and Huong Hoa.
According to the inspection results, the farms that have not met the requirements for livestock farming are mainly due to not following the regulations on safe distances in livestock farming. Many farm owners have not implemented environmental protection measures as prescribed. Most farms still lack waste collection areas.
The treatment of hazardous solid waste has not been given due attention by businesses and individuals building and managing farms. During operation, some farms lack records for monitoring livestock farming. The declaration of livestock farming activities has not been given due attention by farm owners.
Previously, farms in the area were established in a “do-it-yourself” manner. As a result, many farms located right in residential areas became the cause of environmental pollution. Because the farms did not meet the livestock farming conditions, ensuring disease safety was difficult. Disease outbreaks on farms and then spreading widely often occurred. Therefore, building farms that met livestock farming standards became an urgent requirement.
From that reality, relevant levels, sectors and units are very interested in "standardizing" livestock farms. In recent years, when the Law on Livestock, the Law on Environmental Protection and the Law on Food Safety and Hygiene came into effect, management work as well as people's awareness of the importance of building farms that ensure livestock conditions have been raised. Some businesses and individuals have proactively researched and learned about relevant regulations to proactively build standard farms. The work of inspecting, reminding and penalizing farms that do not ensure livestock conditions has also been given more attention.
There are still many difficulties and problems
According to information from the provincial Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, the province currently has 697 livestock farms, including 23 large-scale farms, 209 medium-scale farms and 465 small-scale farms. In recent times, farm owners have made efforts to implement many solutions to build farms that ensure livestock farming conditions. To date, the province has 23 large-scale farms that have been confirmed to ensure livestock farming conditions. Of the 209 medium-scale farms, 3/4 of the farms have been "standardized".
Contrary to the above positive signals, it is noted that most small-scale livestock farms in the area still do not meet livestock standards. This reality stems from many reasons. The main reason is that most farms are not separated from residential areas.
For a long time, most people have raised livestock in their home gardens, then gradually expanded their scale. This has led to most farms not ensuring safe distances in livestock farming. Another important reason why small-scale farms do not ensure livestock farming conditions is due to the lack of environmental permits. According to people's reflection, the cost of obtaining an environmental permit is too high compared to their conditions. Therefore, some people choose to "turn a blind eye" or are forced to reduce the scale of livestock farming.
According to Mr. Dao Van An, currently, the number of small livestock farms in the province accounts for nearly 67%. Therefore, the fact that most small farms do not ensure livestock farming conditions is a matter of concern. Through inspections, officers of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine found that, in the regulations on livestock farming conditions, farm owners can quickly overcome and request additional records, update livestock farming diaries; control diseases; handle the environment...
However, the requirement to comply with regulations on safe distances in livestock farming and have an environmental license is quite difficult. “To ensure these conditions, farm owners, especially farming households, must invest a lot of time, effort, and money... Meanwhile, the income from farms of some businesses and individuals in the province is still low. In addition, they often have to face risks from natural disasters and epidemics...”, Mr. An said.
Faced with the above reality, relevant levels, sectors and units need to continue to propagate and mobilize farm owners to comply with the regulations. It is extremely necessary to encourage businesses with potential to invest in large-scale livestock farms. In addition, there should be specific mechanisms and policies to support disadvantaged households in developing and implementing a roadmap to help farms ensure livestock farming conditions.
For small-scale farms that cannot meet the standards for livestock farming conditions, relevant authorities and sectors need to encourage and guide people to reduce their scale and choose to raise specialty livestock with high economic value. Localities need to plan concentrated livestock farming areas to support households with the conditions and needs for livestock farming... Hopefully, the above solutions will become an opening to help people develop the farm economy.
Tay Long
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