Livestock and Products Production Update 2004 - Vietnam - VIETNAM - The recent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), in addition to on-going problems with food-and-mouth disease, could greatly slow (or even significantly reduce) Vietnam’s rapidly growing livestock sector. As this report is being written, WHO, OIE and CDC experts are working with the Vietnamese government to control the avian influenza outbreak.

Report Highlights

Although the total impact of the outbreaks is unknown, there will be a big drop in demand for animal feed in the near term, and a longer-term need to re-stock the poultry sector. Despite the poultry problems, the swine and dairy sectors continue to expand.

HPAI Outbreak

According to the 4-Feb-2004 report from Vietnam’s Department of Animal Health (DAH), the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI, also called the bird flu) has spread throughout Vietnam -- in 56 of 64 total provinces and cities. The DAH estimates the number of infected/dead poultry is roughly 12 million, about 9-10 percent of Vietnam’s total poultry population, and is growing by several million each day.

Vietnam announced the first case of bird flu in the middle December 2003 when thousands of chickens suddenly died in two Mekong River Delta (MRD) provinces -- Long An and Tien Giang. In less than one month, the bird flu quickly spread all over the country. In early January, Vietnam officially notified OIE that HPAI had been detected in Vietnam.

Although the outbreak is far from over, it seems certain that the impact on the poultry sector will be very significant, perhaps to the point where a massive re-stocking will be required. The impact on poor, rural smallholder families, and the entire agricultural sector, could be equally severe.

Summary

Vietnam’s livestock sector has achieved higher growth rates compared to the crop and total ag sectors (see Table 1). The livestock sector contributes around 20-21% of the total value of Vietnam’s agricultural production. One of key objectives of the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development is to continue rapid growth in the livestock sector, which in turn lifts rural incomes.

Table 1: Vietnam’s Agricultural Sector Annual Growth Rate Percent Growth
Year	Total Ag Sector	Crop Production	Animal Husbandry
2000	5.4	5.3	6.4
2001	2.6	2.3	4.2
	5.2	4.3	9.9
Source: General Statistical Office (GSO)

Post estimates that Vietnam’s 2003 livestock sector also grew at an 8-9% growth rate. Due to the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and foot-and-mouth (FMD) outbreaks, 2004 will bring a steep production drop, especially in the chicken and duck populations.

MARD estimates Vietnam’s 2003 animal meat production (live weight) at 2,329 thousand metric ton (tmt), about 8.5% higher than 2002’s production (see Table 2). Pork and poultry meat are the two key meats consumed in Vietnam (fish is also important food/agricultural sector, but not covered by this report). More than 77% of the meat production is pork meat while the share of poultry meat is about 16%. Other kinds of meat include beef, buffalo, and goat meat. Almost all the animal products are for domestic use. Vietnam does not export poultry (even before the HPAI outbreak), and only exports an insignificant quantity of pork.


In Vietnam, per capita meat consumption is increasing, but it is still at low levels compared to most developing countries. In 2003, annual per capita meat consumption (live weight) increased to 28 kg, up significantly from 23 kg in 2000. MARD plans (i.e., encourages Vietnamese farmers to produce more meat) to increase annual per capita meat consumption to 35 kg by 2005 and 45 kg by 2010. Pork still plays a dominant role, but the ratio of other meat (beef and poultry) will increase (according to MARD’s plans).

Poultry

Vietnam's chicken sector includes small-farmer (back-yard) raised chicken and ‘industrial’ (larger commercial-sized) chicken operations. The industrial chicken herd accounts for around 35% of the total chicken population. As noted above, the HPAI outbreak (as of 4-Feb-04) has already led to the culling (or death by disease) of over 12 million chickens and ducks. Undoubtedly, Vietnam’s 2004 poultry population will be much lower than the 2003 level.

Table 3: Vietnam -- Poultry Sector
	Unit	1990-1995	2000	2001	2002	2003 est.
Chicken population	million head	80-107	147	158	159	185
Duck population	million head	23-32	51	58	73	69
Poultry meat production	thousand metric ton	167-197	286	322	338	372
Poultry egg production	Billion	1.9-2.8	3.7	4.16	4.2	4.8
Source: General Statistical Office (GSO)

More than 80% of the baby industrial chicks are supplied by foreign-invested companies including Japfa Comfeed (Indonesia); CP Vietnam (Thailand) and Cargill (USA).

The broiler breeds being raised in Vietnam include BE, AA, Cobb 500, Hubbard Gomet, Avian, Ross, and Isa-mpk. Industrial chicken laying breeds include Leghorn, Goldline 54, Hyline, and Brownick.

In Vietnam, poultry is grown in all regions, but there are concentrations in the Red River Delta (RRD) in the north (with 26% percent of the total poultry population), in the Mekong River Delta (21%), Northeast- provinces (16%) and Southeast provinces (10%). Ha Tay province in the RRD and Dong Nai province in the Southeast have the biggest poultry stock with more than 8 million head per each province. There are about 2,260 (small, but still commercial-oriented) poultry farms operating in Vietnam with average 1,000-1,400 chicken/ducks per farm. For example, there are about 797 poultry farms in Ha Tay (RRD), 281 farms in Dong Nai and 208 farms in Binh Duong (Southeast region). Many of the larger poultry farms are operating under financial and processing arrangements with foreign invested companies including CP-Vietnam (Thailand) and Japfa Comfeed (Indonesia)

The swine and dairy cow sectors have been given more priority in MARD’s plans, as Vietnam wants to boost pork meat exports as well as reduce their reliance on imported milk products. Hence, the poultry sector has not really developed many large commercial operations or processing plants.

Vietnam poultry breeding stock

MARD is applying strict measures to prevent poultry breeding farms from the deadly bird flu. In a meeting held recently, Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked all relevant agencies to carried out appropriate measures to keep the poultry breeding stock safe.

Some agricultural research institutes, including the National Animal Research Institute and Vietnam Agricultural and Science Research Institute (VASI), are working on poultry re-stocking schemes to ensure that adequate breeder stocks are available when the HPAI outbreak is over.

Under MARD’s management, Vietnam’s grand-parent (GP) poultry stock is estimated at 30,000 head of which 21,500 are GP chicken; and 19,000 are GP ducks. The breeding poultry flocks (both GP and parent stocks (PP) total about 220,000 head) are kept in MARD’s breeding farms.

The total capacity of these farms is to supply 200-220 thousand high-quality chicks and ducks to farmers annually. To date, most of those breeding farmers have not been infected by HPAI. In addition to MARD’s poultry breeding farms, several private and foreign invested breeding farms are also operating in Vietnam. More than 80% of the baby industrial chickens are supplied by foreign-invested companies including Japfa Comfeed (Indonesia); CP Vietnam (Thailand) and Cargill (U.S.A).

To improve the poultry sector productivity, Vietnam is keen to import pure chicken breeds for growing as well as for breed crossing. The imported broiler breeds being raised in Vietnam include BE, AA, Cobb 500, Hubbard Gomet, Avian, Ross, and Isa-mpk. Industrial chicken laying breeds are Leghorn, Goldline 54, Hyline, and Brownick and the semi-industrial chicken breeds such as Tam Hoang, Luong Phuong, Kabir, Sasso, and Isa.

Further Information

To view the full report, please click here (PDF Format).

Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service - 5th February 2004