Nation to make more hay while sun shines

Director of the Animal Husbandry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Hoang Kim Giao said this at a conference yesterday in Ha Noi on providing fresh grass and hay for the husbandry sector.

According to the plan, the area under grass will be increased from 290,000ha to 509,000ha by 2020 to meet demand.

Currently, Viet Nam has more than 10.5 million cattle. The yield of grass and other animal-feed crops is about 60 to 70 million tonnes per year, according to Do Kim Tuyen from the department.

However, there's still a lack of green food for husbandry due to low grass quality and productivity.

Most stock feed areas in Viet Nam are natural pastures. Areas specifically planted with grass meet only 10 per cent of the demand for green raw food for animal breeding.

The agriculture sector plans to increase the amount of green food by 150 million tonnes by 2020.

This will be done in relationship to geography, climate, weather, markets and production levels of farmers in each region.

The ministry is also building a policy to encourage growing grass on 2 to 5 per cent of agricultural land.

Study and research will be carried out to develop varieties of grass with high productivity and quality. The sector will apply modern collection and drying technology. The ministry will back farmers by establishing a grass cultivation model and arranging technology transfer.

The department had proposed the Government allow the importation of 200,000 tonnes of grass each year until Viet Nam can supply its own needs, department head Giao said. —VNS