Southern province develops hi-tech farms

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Ba Ria-Vung Tau (VNA) - The development of hi-tech farms for large-scale animal husbandry in the southern province of Ba Ria–Vang Tau has reduced costs, improved livestock quality and protected the environment.

Pham Xuan Hung’s pig farm in Chau Duc district’s Suoi Rao commune is equipped with air conditioners and has 5,000 animals. Built in 2014, it also has a treatment system for swine manure based on solid-liquid separation. The treated pig manure is used to make fertilisers.

Pham Duc Manh, who manages the place, said pigs bred in an air-conditioned place have few diseases, need few antibiotics and grow rapidly. Thus, the farm can save on feed, he said.

The farm has a contract with a company and supplies 10,000 pigs a year, earning a profit of more than 1.5 billion VND (around 64,200), he said.  

Nguyen Thi Bong’s air-conditioned poultry farm in Chau Duc district’s Suoi Rao commune breeds 20,000 hens for eggs. It has two breeding rooms of 1,200sq.m each. The farm was built this year at a cost of 3.2 billion VND (137,000 USD).

Hoang Tien Khoi, who manages the place, said hens raised on the farm have a high rate of laying eggs and for a longer period compared to traditional farms.

Buyers rate the quality of the eggs highly and say they match eggs laid by free-range hens, he said, adding that the farm produces some 18,000 eggs daily.

Besides installing air conditioners, many individual farmers and companies in the southern province use probiotic liners on the ground in their breeding facilities to prevent disease outbreaks and bad odour caused by animal waste. The liners are made with a layer of rice husk and probiotics.

Tran Van Cuong, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province plans to develop oxen, cow, pig and poultry breeding using semi-industrial and industrial farming models. It would enable the use of advanced breeding techniques, he said.  

The province has 87 hi-tech farms that raise pigs or poultry, mostly in Xuyen Moc, Tan Thanh, Chau Duc and Dat Do districts.

They account for 37 percent of the province’s poultry and 53 percent of pigs, according to Giao Van Sy, head of the province’s Animal Health Sub-department’s animal husbandry division.

To boost the development of the model, local authorities should advocate the benefits and advantages of the use of advanced techniques in animal farming, he said.

They should also have preferential policies like soft loans, tax concessions and identify markets to develop sustainable animal farming, he added.