That was the frank sharing of Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien before representatives of leaders of ministries, branches and localities at the Conference on preventing smuggled livestock and poultry and solutions for sustainable livestock development, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the afternoon of October 17.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien proposed that the coordination mechanism with customs forces, border guards, and police must be specific to effectively prevent smuggling of livestock and poultry.
The conference was attended by representatives of the Ministry of National Defense, the Department of Economic Security of the Ministry of Public Security, the National Steering Committee against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods (Steering Committee 389), the Government Office, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Finance, border provinces, representatives of associations and livestock enterprises.
Smuggled poultry and livestock are more dangerous than opium and drugs.
According to Mr. Phan Quang Minh, Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Health (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the situation of trading, transporting and smuggling of livestock and poultry in the first 9 months of the year has tended to increase very strongly. Authorities discovered 131 cases of smuggling of poultry and animal products with seized evidence of 116,183 kg; 159,979 poultry and livestock; 43,912 poultry eggs.
The localities that discovered and seized the most smuggled poultry and livestock were Lang Son, Cao Bang, Quang Ninh, Long An, and An Giang.
However, according to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong, Chairman of the Livestock - Veterinary - Poultry Association, the number of reported cases of seizure of smuggled livestock and poultry is too small compared to reality.
"For example, every day thousands of pigs are smuggled across the border of southern border provinces, but the reported figures only show a few cases, each case only has a few dozen pigs, which is nothing," Mr. Duong frankly said.
"I feel that the authorities have not fully assessed the dangers and harms of smuggled poultry and livestock to really tighten control," the Chairman of the Association of Livestock - Veterinary Medicine - Poultry expressed his opinion.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong, Chairman of the Association of Livestock - Veterinary - Poultry, frankly stated that smuggling livestock and poultry is more dangerous than drugs and opium.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Duong said that if smuggling is not well controlled, infectious diseases cannot be controlled; most of the diseases in livestock farming in Vietnam today are caused by infections from abroad. If smuggling is not controlled, food safety cannot be controlled, and the health of consumers is threatened.
"Smuggled livestock and poultry are more dangerous and harmful than drugs and opium. Because drugs and opium only affect a few people, while smuggled livestock products cause harm to farmers, businesses and consumers. If we cannot control them, we cannot protect the domestic market," said Mr. Duong.
"Just make it climax and then leave it at that, it won't work"
At the conference, Mr. Luong Trong Quynh, Vice Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People's Committee, said that there was a situation of illegal transportation and trading of poultry breeds across the border in Loc Binh District.
The common method is to take advantage of the darkness and shift change of the authorities to carry small quantities of goods through the border fence areas to villages and hamlets in the border communes. Then, the subjects transport them by motorbike or car to inland provinces for consumption.
People transporting smuggled poultry and livestock by motorbike and car are very aggressive, even sending people to follow the authorities, driving vehicles to weave through traffic, and driving at high speed to avoid the authorities.
"There are people who are willing to crash their cars into the authorities, causing many difficulties in inspection, control, arrest, and handling," said Mr. Quynh.
Authorities seize smuggled poultry in Lang Son
Mr. Quynh said that from now until the end of the year, the situation of smuggling poultry will continue to be complicated. The People's Committee of Lang Son province has directed the authorities to increase patrols and controls along the border and set up a special investigation project to combat smuggling of livestock and poultry.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien affirmed that smuggling of livestock and poultry is a very serious problem, affecting the competitiveness of the domestic market and attracting foreign investment in this field. Vietnam is a livestock farming country, but if there is smuggling of chickens, ducks, pigs, buffaloes, cows, etc., the domestic livestock industry cannot develop.
In front of representatives of ministries, branches and localities, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien frankly stated: "The work of preventing smuggled livestock and poultry has been mainly done by localities in a "throwing stones at a duckweed pond" manner. When the press gets involved and reports, they make a big splash but then leave it at that, which is ineffective."
The leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development requested that the border guards, customs, and police closely coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to develop specific coordination regulations, not general ones, and to annually review, summarize, and draw lessons to effectively control and prevent smuggling of poultry and livestock.
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