Agricultural ministry announces three scenarios of rebuilding pig herd

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on December 26 held a conference to implement some solutions to promote the production and ensure safety in animal husbandry.

Agricultural minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that at this time, large enterprises must ensure their leading role. Enterprises must be both the price leader and provider of piglets and biosecurity technical process because piglets and sows are mainly concentrating at large enterprises with 109,000 piglets and 2.7 million sows. 

Representatives said that rebuilding pig herd should not be rushed at this time. It is essential to control the African swine fever and the risk of recurrence of the disease. Rebuilding pig herd is not only to meet the supply for consumption but also to ensure safety.

The ministry also announced three scenarios to guide farmers across the country to rebuild pig herd amid the context of the African swine fever is on a lull and the price of pigs changes wildly at the end of the year.

In the first scenario, pig-farming facilities declared that the epidemic ended and proactively rebuilt pig herd right from October this year. Therefore, pork supply for the market would be supplemented from the end of the first quarter of next year and from the second quarter of next year, pig production for slaughter would continue to climb. 17 large-scale and safe industrial breeding enterprises with the current total sow herd of 501,200 sows alone would allow the slaughtering of 220,000-230,000 tons of pigs in the first quarter of next year and an increase of around 40,000-65,000 tons for the next quarters, partly making up for a shortage of pork supply for domestic demand.

In the second scenario, pig-farming facilities were declared to be free from the epidemic in December this year and pig herd would be rebuilt since the first quarter of next year then pork supply for the market would be added as of the end of the second quarter of next year.

In the third scenario, if for some reasons, the African swine fever would recur and widely spread and rebuilding pig herd were not effective; large enterprises were seriously affected, pork supply for the market would face a severe crisis.

In related news, Mr. Pham Van Dong, head of the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the African swine fever has ended at three northern provinces of Hung Yen, Hai Duong and Thai Binh. Besides, 25 cities and provinces have more than 85 percent of communes which have not seen any outbreak for 30 days. By December 24, the epidemic has happened at 8,532 communes in 667 districts of 63 cities and provinces. Nearly 6 million pigs with a total weight of around 341,000 tons, accounting for 9 percent of total pig weight in the country. Currently, the total pig herd of the country is at around 25 million pigs.