Chicken prices drop, farmers calculate to reduce losses

Mr. Pham Van Tuyen's chicken farm in An Hong village, Son Ha commune, Bao Thang district (photo above) has a scale of nearly 23,000 chickens, mainly sugar cane chickens and crossbred fighting chickens. According to Mr. Tuyen, chicken prices started to decrease since June last year, and until now there have been no signs of improvement. With the current selling price of 42,000 - 45,000 VND/kg, each chicken breeder loses about 5,000 VND. The family is carefully calculating the flocking to limit risks and losses. "Previously, when selling a flock of chickens, the coop would rest for about 10 - 15 days. But now it has to be extended to about 22 - 25 days before re-herding, to minimize losses and also to extend the time for easier selling," said Mr. Pham Van Tuyen.

To reduce costs, Mr. Tuan feeds chickens corn instead of industrial bran.

"Unable to sell", many farmers like Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tuan in An Tra village, Son Ha commune, Bao Thang district have had to continue to maintain their flocks. His family's flock of more than 400 chickens has been raised for 8 months. To reduce costs, Mr. Tuan has been feeding corn instead of industrial bran, which not only reduces costs, but also makes the chicken meat more delicious, and is favored by the market. "Chickens can't grow anymore, so we only raise them to survive. Corn costs only 7-8 million VND/ton, bran costs 13-14 million VND/ton, so now we only raise corn to survive," said Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tuan.

Bao Thang currently has 185 poultry farms, with a total herd of nearly 2.5 million birds. The decrease in poultry prices is believed to be due to supply exceeding demand, people and businesses tightening spending, causing consumption to decrease. In the current context, the introduction of flocks needs to be carefully calculated, along with strict adherence to safe farming processes to control diseases. "Actively propagate to the people to closely follow the market to grasp price fluctuations as well as supply and demand to carry out reasonable herd restoration and introduction, minimizing risks, as well as other costs to reduce input costs", said Mr. Vu Kieu Hung, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Bao Thang district.

Experts recommend that people also need to research and switch to chicken breeds with higher economic value, and at the same time use and mix a variety of locally available feed sources to reduce production costs.

The Long - Thanh Thuan

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