Ba Ria-Vung Tau (VNA) - Thedevelopment of hi-tech farms for large-scale animal husbandry in the southernprovince of Ba Ria–Vang Tau has reduced costs, improved livestock quality andprotected the environment.

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

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

The farm has a contract with a company and supplies10,000 pigs a year, earning a profit of more than 1.5 billion VND (around64,200), he said.  

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

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

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

Besides installing air conditioners, manyindividual farmers and companies in the southern province use probiotic linerson the ground in their breeding facilities to prevent disease outbreaks and badodour caused by animal waste. The liners are made with a layer of rice husk andprobiotics.

Tran Van Cuong, Director of the provincialDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province plans todevelop oxen, cow, pig and poultry breeding using semi-industrial andindustrial farming models. It would enable the use of advanced breedingtechniques, he said.  

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

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

To boost the development of the model, localauthorities should advocate the benefits and advantages of the use of advancedtechniques in animal farming, he said.

They should also have preferential policies likesoft loans, tax concessions and identify markets to develop sustainable animalfarming, he added.-VNA