Nguyen Ngoc Tuan1, Tran Thi Dan1 and Nguyen The Binh2
1College of Agriculture and Forestry, Vietnam National University,
Thy Duc District,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 2Sub-National Institute
of Agriculture Planning and Projection, Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), with an area of 209 370 ha, is inhabited by 5 million permanent residents and another 1 million people considered as visitors. Seventy percent of the population resides in the urban sector, which covers an area of 6.8% of the city. Forecasts for the year 2000 for HCMC project that agriculture will comprise 1.9% of the economy, processing and industry 45.9%, and services the remaining 52.2%. In the agricultural sector, 32.5% of its total value is currently derived from animal production. Meat production in HCMC meets only 27.5% of the total requirements. However, the city is a major supplier of breeder stock to the rest of the country. The per capita meat consumption in 1996 amounted to 20.4 kg, of which 60% was pork, 17% was cattle/buffalo meat and the remaining 17% was poultry.
A study was carried out in 1997 to evaluate the impact of relocation of intensive animal production on the socio-economics and the environment of HCMC. This paper draws upon the findings of that study and discusses the need for, and the benefits arising from relocation of animal production in both the urban and rural areas of Vietnam.
The livestock population of urban HCMC makes up only 1% of the country's total domestic animal population, with the number of cattle/buffalo, pig and poultry being 66 711, 183 775 and 2 240 100, respectively. Intensive cattle and poultry farms have less than 3% of the total cattle and poultry population, and intensive pig farms hold 17.9% of the total pig herd. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in HCMC manages one feed mill and 17 intensive farms, most of which are 30 years old and located in four districts (GoVap, TanBinh, HocMon and ThuDuc) where rapid urbanisation is taking place.
Assisted by the thrust of economic development that occurred during the post-war period of the 1960's and 1970's, several private farms, feed mills and one modern slaughterhouse (VISSAN) began expanding their operations and started to supply vegetables and meat to the city. These developments initiated a concentration of animal production in the four districts mentioned above, particularly in ThuDuc district. Major roads connecting HCMC to other provinces were quickly constructed. Currently, all intensive farms are state owned establishments and are run by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. In order to increase and modernise poultry production, joint ventures in poultry production were promoted in 1994. This, along with the adoption of modern production techniques has enabled HCMC to become the main supplier of poultry breeder stock for the whole country. Most poultry farms are located in ThuDuc district (south-east Vietnam) because of the suitable topography (high land), proximity (15-20 km) to the city center and feed sources from other provinces, modern slaughterhouse facilities, low population density, the availability of good transport, and sufficient water and electricity.
Currently, there are two dairy farms with 716 dairy cattle that provide smallholders with heifers, eight pig farms with 400-1 000 sows per farm, and 6 poultry farms, each having 15 000-100 000 layers. The average monthly salary of workers in these industries varies between US$ 40-80.
Feed for both urban and rural livestock production comes mainly from three small feed mills in HCMC (including one state owned mill) and from several others in DongNai and BinhDuong provinces. Intensive pig farms usually produce feed for their own use as well as for smallholders to whom they also sell pigs. Smallholders also use their own agricultural by-products, but this constitutes only 25.4% of the total feed requirement. In HCMC, the daily mixed feed requirements amount to 551.3 tons for pigs, 50 tons for cattle, and 33.6 tons for poultry. In general, there are no constraints with regard to the availability of animal feeds and pharmaceutical products for veterinary use in Vietnam.
There are several financial incentives that encourage intensive livestock production in Vietnam. Government spending on agriculture is maintained at 8% of the national budget. State owned farms and slaughterhouses pay a low annual tax of 2.4% and 4.8%, respectively. State owned farms are entitled to bank loans at very low monthly interest of 1-1.2%. Turnover taxes are 1.5% and 2% of total sales in farms and slaughterhouses, respectively. The maximum income tax payable is 35% of net income. Most of the industrial land is owned by the government and the amount of rent payable by state owned farms depends on the location. The rent paid by farms located along feeder roads is 60% of that paid by farms located along main streets.
The involvement of the state in many aspects of livestock production, however, is insufficient to regulate the price of livestock products. Price tends to be determined by market forces. For example, the largest state owned slaughterhouse, VISSAN, has a high slaughter capacity of 2 400 pigs and 800 cattle/buffalo for each 8-hour working shift, but is still unable to regulate the price of the pork they produce. Some commercial poultry operations funded by large amounts of foreign investment capital are highly efficient and tend to outprice the less efficient domestic operations.
The relocation of animal production is faced with several problems and considerations in Vietnam. For small farms, there are no waste treatment facilities available and the waste is discharged into fields or canals, with no buffer region or bio-security zone. Such practices result in environmental problems, health risks and disease invasion. However, only intensive pig and poultry farms need to be relocated because intensive dairy and duck farms are located in peri-urban areas and do not cause environmental problems. Levels of waste components from intensive pig farms currently exceed the limits set by the Ministry of Technology and Environment in 1995. State feed mills also need to be relocated along with the intensive pig and poultry production centres so as to integrate all activities associated with animal production in a single area.
The master plan of development for HCMC stipulates that agriculture should be carried out in a zone northwest of the city, where CuChi district is located. This area is 60 km from the city center and has been designated as the main region for animal production. Intensive farms will be relocated to the existing rubber plantations of PhamVanCoi and QuyetThang, with a view to expand production from here to the surrounding provinces, if necessary.
CuChi district covers an area of 42 850 ha and has two predominant soil types - alluvial (53%) and acid soils (47%). A network of canals irrigates 12 000 ha of agricultural land with the Saigon river being an important source of water. Ground water exists at a depth of 6-9m and pollution of such underground water is an important consideration. The main crops are rice, peanuts, rubber, sugar cane and pineapple. A small plant that produces compost from peatmoss at a capacity of 4 000 tons per year is also located in this district. The current animal density is low and stands at 17 000 heads of cattle, including 2 500 dairy cattle, 12 500 buffalo, 36 000 pigs and 2 300 000 fowl. Intensive dairy, pig and poultry farms are located near the rubber plantations.
The level of education has improved in recent years with about 1.34% and 22% of the local population graduating from college and high school, respectively. There is also a good extension network and close relationship between local universities and villages. Thus, it should not be difficult to extend new techniques and knowledge to the local population.
Recommendations made by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to fund the relocation process include: interest-free loans to be provided by the government; lease of land where relocated farms used to exist to other interested investors; and tax free status for the first 2-3 years of any new business venture.
In order to protect the environment, new farms must build waste treatment facilities, e.g. fermentation ponds with or without gas collection. Properly treated liquid waste can be safely discharged into irrigation canals and solid waste can be used for bio-fertiliser production, for which there is an estimated demand of at least 12 000 tons per year.
A buffer zone is necessary to prevent the spillover effects, if any, from the intensive livestock production centres to other areas. Such a buffer zone can be readily created by cultivating rubber plants around the periphery of intensive livestock production areas.
Integration of suitable crops with livestock production, e.g. peanuts, rice or rubber with livestock, should also be encouraged and developed.
It is estimated that for a pig farm with 500-1 000 sows, the cost of relocation would result in about 12% increase in the cost of pork. The cost of transport for animal feed is less affected and does not change if the distance moved is less than 100 km. However, for larger pig farms (2 500-5 000 sows) the increase in production costs should be offset by the greater efficiency of production.
The relocated industry is a source of manure that can be used to improve soil fertility at the new site of production. There is a shortage of manure supply at CuChi as the annual requirement is estimated at 224 524 tons whereas the annual supply of manure is only 56 474 tons.
There is adequate labour in CuChi to support relocated livestock and feed industries. The relocation exercise will also create more job opportunities for smallholders and result in improved skills and increase in income of the local people.
The previous sites of intensive livestock production can be used for other enterprises, such as the service sector or other non-polluting industries.
