From 2022 until now, the price of buffalo and cows has decreased and has not shown any signs of increasing strongly again, at times decreasing by 50% compared to before, while the cost of animal feed has increased, product output is unstable... causing many difficulties for farmers.
Livestock farming household in Thuong Ninh commune (Nhu Xuan).
Despite having a lot of experience in raising cattle, recently, Ms. Le Thi Tram's family in Hoang Dong commune (Hoang Hoa) has had to reduce the number of livestock. According to her, the price of beef cattle in previous years fluctuated around 90,000 - 95,000 VND/kg, peaking at 130,000 VND/kg. However, from 2022 to now, the price has gradually decreased and is now only around 80,000 - 83,000 VND/kg. Not only that, breeders also "carry" additional costs for feed, vaccines, veterinary medicine... With such prices, households raising cattle using the fattening method are sure to lose money. On the other hand, many households also have difficulty selling their products due to excess supply, and traders are also more strict in choosing quality cattle.
As one of the localities with a tradition of raising cattle, Thieu Nguyen commune (Thieu Hoa) used to have about 1,000 households raising cattle. However, up to now, only 200 households maintain the herd due to job conversion and livestock raising not bringing high economic efficiency. Mr. Mai Van Ky, head of Nguyen Ly village, said that in the village, there are only 30 households developing BBB cattle and Sind crossbred cattle raising with a small herd. Currently, a cow is only sold for 30 to 35 million VND instead of about 40 to 45 million VND as before. Because of unstable prices and unstable output, people are no longer interested in raising cattle.
Similarly, compared to the same period last year, the price of live buffalo meat has also decreased from 90,000 VND/kg to about 82,000 VND/kg. Although the price at present has shown signs of a slight increase, farmers have not been able to make a profit. Although the price of live buffalo and beef has decreased for a long time, the price of commercial meat at traditional markets and supermarkets in the province remains high because costs such as transportation, labor, and slaughtering costs have not decreased, or even increased compared to the same period last year.
In previous years, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the consumption of buffalo and cows slowed down. However, from the beginning of 2022 until now, although the pandemic has been controlled, the output of the product largely depends on the Chinese market, the slow domestic consumption demand has caused many difficulties for people, they choose to reduce the herd or "hang up the barn" waiting for the price to stabilize.
Faced with the above situation, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine recommends that cattle farmers continue to monitor the market to have appropriate livestock plans, implement measures to stabilize production, save costs, and not reduce herds massively, causing supply disruptions. In addition, localities need to focus on guiding people to implement disease prevention and control measures, encourage and support people to change their livestock farming methods from small-scale to farm and family farming models, change and crossbreed to improve the size of cattle herds; transfer biosafety livestock farming techniques. At the same time, cut down on industrial feed sources and take advantage of agricultural by-products such as straw, corn stalks, beans, peanuts, etc. for fermentation; expand the area of grass for animal feed to limit feed costs.
To develop sustainable and stable cattle and buffalo farming, localities need to establish cooperatives and links in production; encourage and call for businesses to invest, and link with people to remove difficulties in consumption, helping people develop sustainable livestock farming.
Article and photos: Le Ngoc
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