Hanoi (VNA) – Pig overproduction was a hot topic that many National Assembly(NA) deputies asked Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen XuanCuong about on June 13 morning.

At the question and answer (Q&A) session,part of the parliament’s ongoing third sitting, deputy Nguyen Son of Ha Tinhprovince said while the plan for the animal farming sector aimed at 32 millionpigs raised in 2015, an overproduction crisis occurred in 2016 when there werejust 27 million pigs. Deputy Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan of Bac Ninh province askedabout solutions to the oversupply of pork, which made farmers suffer fromlosses of up to 50 percent of production costs.

Minister Cuong attributed the situation to therapid growth in meat production, especially in pig farming, over the pastyears. While the good control of animal diseases has contributed to theoversupply of food in a certain point of time, consumers’ diverse food optionshave substantially reduced the demand for pork.

The connectivity between production andprocessing steps remains weak, he said, adding that there are few businesseswith a complete chain of breeding, farming, slaughtering and distribution. 

More than 90 percent of pork is still soldthrough traditional channels. Meanwhile, Vietnam has exported pork, mainly ofsuckling pigs, to just three countries. It has also just shipped pork to China,a big neighbouring market, via small cross-border trade activities.

He said among the three steps of production,processing and seeking markets, the country has just done a good job ofproduction, leading to the recent excessive pork supply and falling prices.

However, deputy Nguyen Thanh Hong of Binh Duongprovince said the minister’s answer was not persuasive and it did not mentionthe state management in this field.

Giving more details about this issue, Minister ofIndustry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said it is important to base on the domesticand foreign markets’ demand to make development plans.

The animal farming sector has recorded fastgrowth, but the expansion of markets hasn’t been truly effective, he said,noting that much room remains for Vietnam to export pork but the product hasn’tsatisfied importing countries’ requirements.

Anh pointed out that Vietnam’s pork can competewith that of regional producers like China, the Philippines and Malaysia. Butas there are 10.6 million small and separate farming households, it makesVietnamese pork prices higher than those imported from the US and othercountries. 

He said coordination among ministries, sectorsand localities needs to be reviewed to make better plans on animal farming.State agencies must devise plans that align production with the market demandand ensure that products will overcome technical barriers.

At the Q&A session, deputies also grilledMinister Cuong about counterfeit and inferior quality fertilisers and the statemanagement in this area.-VNA