BINH DUONG (VNS)— Farmers should not use antibiotics and vaccines for their livestock without consulting animal health officials because the consequences of improper use are serious, experts said at a recent forum.
They said improper use of antibiotics in livestock breeding can develop drug resistance in the animals and leave residues in animal meat, badly affecting the health of consumers.
The forum, organised in southern Binh Duong Province, dealt with the use of medicines and vaccines for disease prevention in livestock.
Dr Ha Thuy Hanh, deputy director of the National Agricultural Extension Center, said that while the livestock industry has advanced in recent years in terms of developing high quality breeds, providing better nutrition and taking better care of the animals, diseases have continued to exact a heavy price.
This has happened because of shortcomings in vaccination and disease supervision, she said.
“Using vaccines and other veterinary medicines in an improper way cannot help animals recover from disease. Instead it develops drug resistance, adversely affecting animal health and consumer health.”
Dr Nguyen Ngoc Hai of Nong Lam University said the local pig breeding industry did not develop in a stable manner and has a lower output compared to other countries.
“Many farms have hundreds to thousands of sows, equalling industrial scale farms, but they have not developed in a systematical way, thus creating many problems,” he said.
Most local farmers are also not equipped with proper knowledge and skills to manage large scale breeding farms, he said.
For instance, when diseases occurred, they do not know what emergency measures need to be taken to minimise damage. As a result, diseases get a chance to prolong and spread on a large scale, affecting the entire animal breeding industry, Hai said.
On the other hand, the overuse of antibiotics has developed antibiotic resistance in animals, making it much more difficult to tackle diseases and epidemics.
Hai said “most animal feed products available in the market are mixed with various antibiotics, so breeders must be very careful in choosing what they give their animals.”
He said improper use increases production costs in the long run.
Delegates at the forum agreed that not all animals need every vaccine, so farmers should administer only those that are needed the most, based on the location of their farm and the history of the herd or flock. Most importantly, experts should be consulted before the vaccines are chosen and administered, the delegates said.
The animal breeding industry in Viet Nam has enjoyed an average annual growth of 5-7 per cent in recent years, the forum heard.
The country currently has 24.5 million pigs, 308 million poultry and 7.7 million heads of cattle.
Organised by the National Agricultural Extension Centre in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Duong Province, the forum saw the participation of more than 250 delegates from 23 provinces and cities, most of them farmers. — VNS
Đăng ký: VietNam News
