The role and position of poultry husbandry in the upcoming period

In recent years, Vietnam’s poultry farming, especially the field of colored chicken farming, has made considerable development in terms of scale and yield. However, the development is not accompanied by sustainability efficiency, as cultivators have to experience the “profit today, loss tomorrow” situation.

Along with the strong growth in scale and total herds, the poultry prices in recent years have been continuously experiencing abnormal fluctuation, typically in the last three years, the poultry husbandry industry always maintains a two digits growth rate. Particularly, it was 17% in 2019, above 13% in 2020, and expectedly above 10% in 2021.

Specifically for the first six months of 2021, the prices of poultry products have had different fluctuations which tend to increase, and those of some products in particular increase fast.

Regarding the colored chicken group, while the price of chicken breeds in the North and Central region has decreased about 12 - 20%, ranging from VND 3,500 to 6,000 per head on average, it’s an increase of 21 - 40% in the South, ranging from VND 5,500 to 6,400 per head on average.

Regarding the chicken and super-chicken for slaughter group, the breed price has decreased by 6.3% in the North, but averagely increased by 20% in the South. The price of chicken for slaughter has increased by 28.5% in the North, 10.4% in the Central and 5.5% in the South.

The price of duck products has also gradually increased, in which the price of Super M ducks increased about 15 - 20% on average.

The prices of products belonging to the poultry for eggs group maintain at a low rate, ranging from VND 1,400 to 2,000 per egg.

At present, industrial white-meat chicken price is VND 27,000 - 29,000 per kg, VND 38,000 - 41,000 per kg for industrial colored chicken price, and VND 53,000 - 56,000 per kg for free-roaming chicken.

It is prognosticated that the price of poultry products will be increasing at a high rate from July to September of 2021 because of the increase in demand and decrease in supply sources.

The reason is that the number of breeds put into commercial production in the first quarter of 2021 has decreased compared to the fourth quarter of 2020; the amount of poultry feed decreased by nearly 10%.

According to some farms, with the current release selling price, chicken farmers are just breaking even and making little profit. In the coming time, the price of industrial white-feathered chicken still might be stable, meanwhile that of colored chicken will increase but not much, as the residue is still quite many and the supply remains abundant.

Integrating the international economy will bring opportunities as well as challenges to the economic sector in general and the animal husbandry sector in particular, especially the poultry husbandry sector, specifically the chicken husbandry.

According to Mr. Nguyen Quy Khiem, Director of Thuy Phuong Poultry Research Center (National Livestock Institute), the poultry husbandry sector has come into contact with new breed sources, technologies, businesses having experiences in advanced breeding for a long time to later bring back for application in Vietnam’s husbandry. Therefore, about the breed, technology and equipment for husbandry, also materials that Vietnam imported, after integration, the price got lower.

However, the challenges are by no means small. All departments assess that international economic integration has had the poultry husbandry challenges considered a big issue.    

Firstly, the cost in poultry/chicken husbandry sector is still very high due to the fact that the sector is small and fragmented, the technology is not very advance.

Secondly is the breed’s quality. Thuy Phuong Poultry Research Center has made efforts in research to select and create new breeds, approaching new breeds imported from abroad. Even so, because of low-quality farming conditions, infrastructure and equipment, the sector has not yet attained competitiveness in terms of (breed) quality compared to the world.

Thirdly, the product processing and post-breeding technology in respect of slaughtering and processing are still outdated.

Fourthly, it is difficult for domestic consumption market to compete as the integration and importation of many poultry products, especially chicken, have led to the drop in prices, thereby affecting the market.

Poultry husbandry plays a very important role in the aminal husbandry sector because the yield of poultry meat and eggs is right behind the yield of pork, in which the poultry meat yield in 2020 accounts for 25 - 26%. In the 2030 animal husbandry development strategy with vision to 2045, the poultry meat yield must reach 30% of the total yield, and the egg yield in 2030 must reach the number of 23 billion, therefore prove the importance of poultry husbandry.