Dong Nai thrives on raising VietGAP

VietGAP giant freshwater shrimp farming area in Tra Co Commune (Dinh Quan District). Photo: Phan Anh

Recently, GAP breeding models have been replicated from pigs, chickens to aquaculture. However, in order for GAP husbandry to develop sustainably, farmers expect stable outputs for clean products.

Diversity of VietGAP products​

Broodstock: Producing broodstock in Tan Hanh ward, Bien Hoa city. Photo: Phan Anh

Dong Nai is the ‘capital’ of raising pigs and chickens of the whole country. Accordingly, VietGAP pig and chicken husbandry is implemented quite early in the province and attracts a large number of businesses, cooperatives and livestock households to participate. According to a report of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, by the end of 2019, the whole province has 105 pig and chicken farms with VietGAP certification and three GAHP-safe breeding areas. The whole province also has 616 disease-free breeding facilities and 5 disease free areas. In particular, about 90% of the total pig flock and 37.5% of the total chicken flock of enterprises are traceable.

Enterprises in the livestock sector in the province are leading the investment in raising GAP. Specifically, Binh Minh Breeding One Member Company Limited (Trang Bom District) has developed a system of VietGAP chicken farms; Thanh Duc Livestock And Production Services Commercial Co. (Xuan Loc District) raises egg-laying chickens according to GlobalGAP standards with chicken eggs reaching the standards for export to Japan and Europe, etc.

Regarding fisheries, the whole province also has 8 aquaculture areas meeting VietGAP standards in districts: Vinh Cuu, Tan Phu, Nhon Trach, Dinh Quan, Xuan Loc with a total area of nearly 133 hectares. VietGAP certified seafood products are quite diverse such as giant freshwater shrimp, white shrimp, pangasius, Amur fish, snakehead, climbing perch fish,...In particular, some localities have established a specialized farming area of VietGAP on a large scale such as: Pangasius farming area in Thien Tan commune (Vinh Cuu district) with an area of over 51 hectares; VietGAP giant freshwater shrimp farming area in Tra Co Commune (Tan Phu District) with an area of over 30 hectares...

Difficulties in consumption sources​

Fish: VietGAP specialized Pangasius farming area in Thien Tan commune (Vinh Cuu district). Photo: Phan Anh

In fact, except for a small number of VietGAP pork and chicken products that can enter supermarkets, clean food stores, most of VietGAP's livestock products are still sold to traders so consumers are not aware of these safe products. Although over the past time, there has been no shortage of businesses and large supermarket systems on signing cooperation agreements to buy pigs and chickens VietGAP for farmers in the link chain, but the output for this safe product is still a narrow door because most of these link chains easily ‘break’. Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Cuc, Head of GAHP 1 Hung Loc Cooperative Group (Thong Nhat District), said that when the market is favorable, businesses buy pork fairly but when there are fluctuations or difficulties, they are ready to stop buying. Accordingly, the majority of VietGAP pork products still have to be sold ‘floating’ to traders with the price of uncertified pork, and GAP products are not recognized by consumers when they come to the market.

In the same opinion, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phi Long, one of the pioneer farmers who applied the VietGAP breeding model in Dong Nai, said, VietGAP livestock farms have to invest a large amount of capital to standardize from barns, wastewater treatment systems, warehouses... The rearing process must also follow a very strict process, the input cost also increases. But currently VietGAP products are mainly sold off the market, there is no price difference compared to the common ground so many farmers are not keen to participate.

Currently, consumers are increasingly interested in safe food, including VietGAP products. This demand is great, but VietGAP livestock products have not been accessed by farmers yet. According to Mr. Ngo Tan Tai, Deputy Head of Cooperative Group for raising giant freshwater shrimp VietGAP Tra Co (Dinh Quan District), farmers are not afraid to comply with very stringent requirements from the production process to harvesting and storage; The most difficult thing is to record and keep records of the whole farming process.

Clean production is labor-intensive and costs more, but farmers still have to sell clean products like normal products because they have not found a stable consumption channel. VietGAP shrimp is still mainly sold to traders at regular prices, sometimes even under price squeezing.

By Phan Anh