Animal husbandry and feed companies in Vietnam and the Netherlands will cooperate in quality registration, management, food safety, and enhance closer relations between breeders and businesses. Dutch Minister of Agriculture and Foreign Trade Henk Bleker made the statement at a workshop on the value chain in pig breeding and food safety, held in Ho Chi Minh City Mar 31. Dutch firms are encouraged to boost long-term cooperation and business with Vietnam, he said, adding that the firms concentrate on both profits and attention to the environment, labor, and human relations. The Netherlands will transfer knowledge and training program with breeding technologies as well as disease prevention, food safety and environmental protection to Vietnamese breeding firms, the Dutch minister said. Rene Ten Brinke from the Dutch firm Topigs proposed Vietnam’s authorities to build a demonstrating breeding farm applying Dutch technology. Some firms from the Netherlands expressed their desire to invest in slaughtering in Vietnam, helping the country to build a modern system in that field. Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan said that breeding accounts for 27-28% of the agricultural sector’s output. The Asian country aims to become an industrialized country by 2020 with the breeding sector making up 42% of agricultural production value. The country devised the strategy on breeding development by 2020, which creates a legal basis for the husbandry sector to develop and access the value chain from farm to dining table, combined with food hygiene safety and environmental protection. The ministry’s calls for investment in value chain projects have gained support and cooperation from many countries, including the Netherlands, Tan said. Vietnam has 27.3 million of pigs, 5.9 million of cattle, 2.9 million buffalos, 1.2 million goats and over 30 million poultries, however, its output values are low due to low productivity and quality. The sector is also facing numerous problems, including disease outbreaks and diluted farming. At the workshop, both sides signed a letter of intent for projects in agriculture. The workshop was held on the occasion of the visit to Vietnam by Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima. (Tuoi tre – Youth, Nong nghiep Viet Nam – Vietnam Agriculture Apr 1)
