On March 28, the first National Conference on Livestock and Veterinary Science and Technology was held with the participation of about 750 delegates who are leaders of ministries, branches, localities, scientists, businesses and international organizations.
Speaking at the opening, Mr. Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment emphasized that in the period 2021-2025, especially in 2025, the agricultural sector faces many major challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic fluctuations, supply chain breakdowns and rapid market changes.
However, the whole industry still maintained positive growth. Notably, the export turnover of the whole industry increased sharply, from 49-50 billion USD to nearly 60-70 billion USD. Many months reached over 6 billion USD - a record high. In the first two months of the year, the industry had a trade surplus of 21.31 billion USD; exports reached 11.3 billion USD, an increase of 10.3%.
More than 2,400 veterinary medicine and vaccine products of Vietnam have been exported to nearly 50 countries, bringing in a value of nearly 50 million USD per year. These figures show that the growth potential of the industry is still very large, especially when the demand for animal protein consumption continues to increase, and the trend of consumption strongly shifts to processed and packaged products with clear traceability.
According to the Deputy Minister, this result shows the efforts of the entire industry, and at the same time affirms that science and technology are becoming a key driving force to improve productivity, quality and added value.
In fact, the contribution of science and technology to the livestock and veterinary industry in the past time has been quite clear. In the period 2021-2025, the industry implemented 84 science and technology tasks with a total budget of more than 226 billion VND, focusing on key products. As a result, 31 technical advances have been recognized, including 6 pig breed lines; 15 poultry breed lines and many new solutions on nutrition, veterinary medicine and environmental treatment.
However, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien also pointed out "bottlenecks" such as loose links between stakeholders, limited technology transfer, and the potential of the industry not being fully exploited.
According to Mr. Pham Kim Dang - Deputy Director of the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), the growth of the livestock industry is still not truly sustainable when the industry is still heavily dependent on imported raw materials, especially animal feed, as well as not being completely proactive in breeds and technology.
According to the orientation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, by 2030, the livestock industry will develop in a modern, large-scale direction, applying high technology and controlling diseases well. Total meat output is expected to reach over 10 million tons, egg production more than 25 billion eggs and milk about 1.6 million tons, while increasing the proportion of exports and added value of products.
To achieve the above goal, Deputy Director of the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine Pham Kim Dang said that the sector will focus on mastering breeding technology, improving the rate of domestic seed source autonomy, and at the same time developing the animal feed industry in a sustainable direction, taking advantage of by-products and reducing import dependence.
In the field of veterinary medicine, Mr. Dang said that proactive disease prevention and control, vaccine development and building disease-free zones that meet international standards are considered key factors to ensure stable development; promoting slaughtering industry, deep processing and logistics to improve added value and meet export market standards.
