Difficult to support breeding animals for people

According to the provisions of the Law on Animal Husbandry, the use of livestock breeds spontaneously produced by people and supplied to programs and projects is not guaranteed according to regulations, causing difficulties for cattle breeders and suppliers.

Previously, the number of buffaloes, cows and goats supplied for programs and projects were mainly purchased and collected by establishments and enterprises right in localities in the province . Then, they fully implemented vaccination and rearing procedures before handing over to the people . However, currently, Articles 18, 22 and 24 of the 2018 Law on Animal Husbandry stipulate: "Organizations and individuals producing livestock breeds must apply a suitable quality management system and publish applicable standards; organizations and individuals buying and selling livestock breeds must have a publication of applicable standards of the livestock breed production facility". Accordingly, organizations and individuals producing livestock breeds must meet the following conditions: The original breed keeping facility, the line creation facility, the livestock breed must have technical staff with a university degree or higher in a major in animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, biology or the parent stock raising facility for pigs, poultry, breeding herds, livestock breed production must have technical staff trained in one of the majors in animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, biology... Along with that, the regulations of the Ministry of Science and Technology on the announcement of basic standards make it difficult for small-scale livestock producers to meet the conditions for announcing basic standards. This means that the use of livestock breeds spontaneously produced by people and supplied to programs and projects is not guaranteed according to regulations.

Nam Po, like many other localities, is facing difficulties and obstacles in the process of implementing production support projects in the agricultural sector for local people. Therefore, the district has requested specialized agencies to review and provide specific guidance on the content of livestock breed support for localities to apply and implement. Mr. Lo Van Thanh, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nam Po district, said: The District People's Committee has issued a document requesting the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to provide specific guidance and regulations on the content of organizing bidding and bidding for the purchase and sale of livestock breeds to implement production development support programs under the National Target Program for organizations and individuals supplying breeds. On August 15, the Department of Livestock Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) issued a response document, agreeing on the principles of using local livestock breeds. However, the supply and use of livestock in the locality must comply with current regulations on livestock breed management according to the provisions of the Law on Animal Husbandry. Therefore, in order to implement this, the District People's Committee only requires relevant units, agencies and communes to comply with the Law on Animal Husbandry and related legal documents... without specific solutions to remove obstacles.

As for Muong Cha district, in order to implement support for people in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Animal Husbandry and related documents, the district's professional agencies aim to solve the problem by instead of supporting buffaloes and cows, they will support deer breeds for people to raise in groups of households. Mr. Bui Tuan Thanh, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Muong Cha district, said: Supporting buffaloes and cows for people is also very good for developing animal husbandry, but most organizations and individuals buying and selling buffaloes and cows in the province are not qualified, do not meet the requirements of the Law on Animal Husbandry and related documents, causing difficulties for the implementation process. Therefore, the unit has advised the district People's Committee to switch to supporting deer breeds for people to develop livestock farming... To learn how to do it and gain more experience in implementing the popular deer farming model, and to guide people, Muong Cha district plans to organize a working group to Ha Tinh province to visit and learn about knowledge and technical processes of deer farming.

Currently, in the province, livestock farming is mainly developed on a small scale, with household scale accounting for over 95%; while the farm scale is not much. According to statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the districts, the whole province currently has over 300 farms (large, medium, small scale). For buffalo, cow, and goat farms, 100% are small and medium scale of spontaneous households, concentrated in the districts: Dien Bien, Nam Po, Muong Nhe, Muong Cha and Dien Bien Dong. And in the province, there is 01 breeding facility; 05 businesses trading and supplying various breeds, serving programs and projects to support breeding animals to develop production in the province; 02 Cooperatives providing services to supply buffalo, cow, and goat breeds to breeders in and outside the province. Regarding the support of livestock breeds for people, the Department of Livestock agrees on the viewpoint of using local livestock breeds so that livestock can adapt to the climate and soil, grow and develop well; however, the supply of livestock breeds must ensure compliance with current regulations on livestock breed management according to the provisions of the 2018 Law on Livestock and other relevant guiding documents, most organizations and individuals in the province are not qualified.

Mr. Do Thai My, Head of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the province) shared: Based on the response document of the Department of Animal Husbandry and current regulations; at the same time, to unify the implementation of the supply of livestock breeds under programs and projects implemented in the province, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Document No. 1957/SNN-CNTYTS dated August 23, 2023 in response to recommendations and difficulties in providing livestock breeds under programs and projects sent to the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities. And to ensure the management of production conditions, purchase and sale of livestock breeds in accordance with the provisions of law, contributing to improving the quality of livestock breeds to serve the needs of livestock production in the province, on September 19, the Department issued Instruction No. 2196/HD-SNN guiding a number of contents related to the conditions for production, purchase and sale of livestock breeds. It includes instructions on the order and procedures for announcing standards for livestock breeding facilities, meeting the conditions prescribed by the Law on Animal Husbandry; and also includes some sample standards for facilities for reference by organizations and individuals producing livestock breeds.

Faced with that reality, professional agencies and localities are also looking for solutions to overcome difficulties. And on the basis of the Guidance Document of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, a number of livestock facilities are researching and developing procedures and sequences to implement the announcement of livestock breed quality standards according to regulations. This is necessary because in the long term, facilities, units, organizations or individuals who want to supply livestock breeds also need to develop and announce their own livestock breed quality standards. Only then can the provisions of the Law on Livestock be met, ensuring the conditions for supplying livestock breeds to people under programs and projects in the coming time.

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