A huge volume of untreated waste from livestock farming is polluting Vietnam’s environment, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). There are 8.5 million householders and 18,000 animal farms producing 75 million-85 million tons of untreated waste every year, said the Department of Livestock Husbandry, adding that the volume is expected to rise by over 1.2 million tons annually by 2020. However, only 8.7% of households have biogas facility to use the animal waste while 23% of them have applied no measures but dispose the waste directly into environment. According to the Institute for Animal Breeding, the concentration of H2S and NH3 in animal waste is 30-40 times as high as the permitted levels. The wasted water from animal farm is infested with dangerous bacteria and other microorganisms, it said. Due to the lack of animal waste treatment, animal diseases are transmitted easily, causing large-scale outbreaks of dangerous diseases such as foot-and-mouth and blue disease in cattle and swine industry and bird flu in poultry, the department said. (baobaovephapluat.vn Sept 23)
