Increased Cooperation in Animal Husbandry

In his inaugural speech, Vice Minister Diep Kinh Tan reaffirmed that the stable economic growth in Vietnam is partly due to the contribution of agricultural production. The average economic growth of the agricultural sector is 4.7 percent a year with animal husbandry making up 27-28 percent of the total production value of the sector and pig raising accounting for over 75 percent of the value. So far, though Vietnam does not export livestock products to other countries, it has met fully the demand at home. By 2020, Vietnam will become an industrialized country; animal husbandry will make up 42 percent of the total value of agricultural production and will be developed comprehensively with a complete value chain from country farm to dinner table, coupled with food safety and environment protection.

 

Presently, most of Vietnamese consumers use products from scattered and small scale farms and slaughter houses without strict controls and planning. In recent years, diseases have occurred repeatedly and price of animal feed increased unceasingly, creating additional difficulties for farmers. To overcome these difficulties, MARD has planned a development strategy for animal husbandry to 2020 with short-, medium- and long-term objectives to make animal husbandry a main production sector attaining the goal of export and bringing back foreign exchange for Vietnam. Mr Tan said that MARD has many projects of value chain (from country farm to dinner table) calling for investments and receiving cooperation from many countries, including the Netherlands. The Vietnamese government is considering the case of the Netherlands and hoping the Netherlands will be 18^th country exporting meat to Vietnam.

 

Mr Henk Bleker said that the Netherlands is one of the biggest ODA providers to Vietnam in the EU. The two governments have signed cooperation agreements on slaughtering livestock under modern standards. The Netherlands has a developed animal husbandry sector with advanced technology from production, management to food safety. The products are of EU standard and exported to several countries in the world. Also according to Mr Bleker, in the past 10 years, the cooperation between Vietnam and the Netherlands in agriculture has recorded important progress and in the near future, it will reach new heights as the two countries have many similarities.

 

Mr Bleker also expressed the hope that in the coming years, bilateral cooperation in the agricultural sector, especially animal husbandry, will continue to increase. Dutch businesses are encouraged to establish cooperation with long-term commitments to Vietnam. Profit is important but not everything. Besides increased benefit, Dutch businesses will take care of the environment, labour relations and harmonious and lasting human relations.

 

On this occasion, Vice Minister Diep Kinh Tan and Mr Simon Smitsra, Head of Department of External Economic Department of the Netherlands, signed a Letter of Intention for cooperation projects in animal husbandry, to plan priorities and orientation for development of animal husbandry in the years to come.