Normally, from October, pig farms focus on restocking to serve the Lunar New Year market. However, due to the low price of live pigs, pig farming activities in Ha Tinh are quite quiet.
Recently, pig farms in the area have continuously faced difficulties as the risk of disease in livestock is always latent, animal feed prices remain high while pig prices have dropped sharply.
Currently, the price of live pigs in Ha Tinh fluctuates from 51,000 to 52,000 VND/kg. At this price, farmers are facing losses and are cautious in restocking and increasing their herds to serve the Tet market.
With the price of 51,000 - 52,000 VND/kg, for each pig sold, Mitraco Ha Tinh Livestock Joint Stock Company loses about 500,000 VND.
Mitraco Ha Tinh Livestock Joint Stock Company has nearly 40 satellite farms with 3,500 sows. Each month, the company sells 4,000 - 5,000 commercial pigs. At the current price, the company loses about 500,000 VND for each pig sold.
Mr. Ho Sy Huy Thao - Director of Mitraco Ha Tinh Livestock Joint Stock Company said: "If the price of live pigs is high and stable, starting from this October, livestock farms in the area will focus on restocking and increasing herds to serve the Tet market. However, at this time, the price of live pigs is low, the cost of disease prevention is high, the price of animal feed has not decreased significantly, so livestock farming activities in the area are quiet."
At Thang Loi Cooperative (Xuan Thanh Commune, Nghi Xuan), livestock farming activities also face many difficulties. Ms. Nguyen Thi Nghia - Director of the Cooperative said: "We raise 300 sows and 500 piglets/litter. Currently, the price of live pigs has "fallen dramatically" while the cost of disease prevention has increased by about 20% and the price of animal feed is still high, so the unit is quite struggling".
Livestock activities at Thang Loi Cooperative (Nghi Xuan).
Faced with the low price of live pigs, for small-scale farmers, having to buy piglets is even more difficult. Mr. Nguyen Van Bang - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Thach Van Commune (Thach Ha) said: "In the area, mainly small-scale farming households do not have their own piglets, so when the price of live pigs drops, farmers suffer heavy losses. If in previous years, during this period, farmers focused on restocking and increasing their herds to welcome Tet, now people are not interested in raising pigs. Specifically, in the period of 2021 - 2022, the total pig herd of Thach Van commune still reached 6,000 - 7,000 pigs, but now it has decreased to 3,500 - 3,600 pigs. The whole commune currently has only more than 140 pig-raising households, many households have stopped raising pigs to switch to raising chickens, goats, cows...".
According to the review of the professional sector, the total pig herd in the province is currently nearly 400,000, of which farm farming accounts for 65% and household farming accounts for 35%. The sharp drop in live pig prices has had a major impact on livestock farming activities in the area.
Facilities need to strengthen disease prevention work to limit risks in livestock farming.
Mr. Phan Quy Duong - Head of Livestock Management Department, Ha Tinh Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine said: "With the current high costs of disease prevention, animal feed..., the price of live pigs must reach 55,000 VND/kg or more for farmers to break even. For livestock farming activities to run smoothly in the last months of the year, farm owners need to proactively access information; monitor and analyze market signals, assess prices to make appropriate investment decisions. When re-herding and increasing herds, farm owners need to pay attention to buying breeding animals at reliable, quality addresses in the area (if the breeding animals are imported from other provinces, they must have full quarantine records)".
According to Mr. Phan Quy Duong, Ha Tinh is currently in the transitional season, livestock farmers need to invest in barns, proactively keep their livestock warm; strengthen disease prevention; comply with the vaccination schedule for livestock such as: swine fever, anthrax, foot-and-mouth disease... according to the recommendations of the professional sector to avoid risks.
Thao Hien
Source
Comment (0)