Blue-ear vaccine production tech hard to obtain
By Ngoc Hung - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – Vietnam is willing to spend big on pig disease vaccine production but it is hard to obtain technology for this purpose, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan.
Blue-ear pig disease normally breaks out twice a year, but the country still has to import vaccines from China. It would take Vietnam many more years to do away with independence on pig disease vaccine imports, said Tan.
“We are financially capable but the problem lies in technology. Several countries are producing the vaccine but it is difficult to purchase this technology,” he told the Daily, adding the country is ready to spend hundreds of billions of dong on any viable project.
He said the agriculture ministry will assist scientists in studying blue-ear vaccine production technology.
Disease outbreaks nationwide have pulled down pork prices by 20%, poultry 26% and eggs 45%. As a result, the number of livestock farms has sharply dropped from 17,000 in 2011 to 7,000 at present, possibly causing a pork and poultry undersupply in the next four months.
In response to this situation, the Animal Husbandry Department under the agriculture ministry has proposed the Government provide a VND9-trillion support package to bring farmers back to their livestock farms.
However, deputy minister Tan did not confirm this information, saying the Animal Husbandry Department has not made an official request on the aid package. Therefore, he declined to comment on whether this package would be approved or not.