Vuong Ngoc Long, technical director of Vinamilk, said the company last year signed contracts with farmers to grow grass and corn on more than 1,200 hectares. However, the amount supplied by domestic farms meets only 50% of feed for the company’s dairy herd, while the other half including hay and soybean is imported from the U.S.
The average price contracted with local farmers is VND1,000 per kilo of corn stalks and VND500-600 per kilo of grass, Long added. Farmers can earn around VND60 million per crop, which enables a profit of up to VND100 million a hectare each year.
Such benefits have encouraged many local households in Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Lam Dong, and Binh Dinh provinces to switch their farms from sugarcane into grass and corn for Vinamilk. Recently, the company has invested on about 3,500 hectares for farming cattle feed.
This year and next, Vinamilk will develop four more dairy farms with 36,000 head in Tay Ninh and Thanh Hoa provinces, raising the company’s total herd to 46,000 cows in nine farms. Still, such a herd can supply only 40% of the company’s dairy processing demand.
“Due to a lack of farming areas for fresh feed in Vietnam, the company is proposing the Government help solve this issue”, Long said.
A shipment of 2,000 pregnant dairy cows arrived in Vietnam on Tuesday and this is the first batch out of 5,000 pregnant cows that will be imported by Vinamilk from the U.S. and Australia this year.
Đăng ký: VietNam News