Unlocking Tay Nguyen's Livestock Potential (Final Part): Three Key Conditions for Success

 "For the Central Highlands region, the State has enacted numerous preferential policies and support measures, including encouraging investment in agricultural production development. This is precisely why the Central Highlands is attracting significant interest from many large enterprises," stated Mr. Tong Xuan Chinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Livestock Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.¹

Central Highlands: A Hub for High-Tech Livestock Investment

Mr. Tong Xuan Chinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Livestock Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,¹ discussed the significant potential for livestock development in the five Central Highlands provinces, which are now attracting substantial investment from large enterprises in buffalo, cattle, and pig farming.

"We recently surveyed and inspected the DHN High-Tech Agricultural Complex, invested by Hung Nhon Group and De Heus Group (Netherlands), in Cu M'gar District, Dak Lak Province," Mr. Chinh stated. "The strategy of these two corporations is not just to invest in high-tech livestock farming in Dak Lak but also to expand into other Central Highlands provinces. Their goal is to build and develop large-scale, high-tech livestock zones, pilot disease-free areas, and apply the most modern Industry 4.0 technology in Southeast Asia."

The primary livestock for these projects is pigs, with an integrated production chain covering great-grandparent pigs, grandparent pigs, breeding stock, animal feed production, organic fertilizer plants, and slaughterhouses.

Advantages of Investing in the Central Highlands

Overall, businesses recognize the immense advantages of the Central Highlands:

• Abundant Land Fund: The region has a large land fund, making it easy to establish large-scale, high-tech livestock zones. The new Livestock Law, effective now, includes stringent regulations, particularly Decree 13 and Circular 23 on breeding conditions, which specify minimum distances between large-scale livestock farms.
• Large Cultivation Areas and Farmer Acumen: The Central Highlands features extensive cultivation areas, and farmers are highly adept at adopting and applying high technology. This ensures a favorable supply of roughage and fosters production linkages with local farmers. Investing in cattle farming is also highly suitable here, given the ample land available for growing grass and biomass corn.
• Policy Support: The Party and State have implemented numerous preferential policies and specific investments for the Central Highlands, especially for ethnic minority communities.

Challenges and Risk Assessment

When asked about the difficulties in undertaking large-scale livestock investments in the Central Highlands, Mr. Chinh acknowledged:

• Human Resources: High-tech livestock investment will face challenges in human resources, as the supply of highly skilled labor, particularly livestock engineers, is limited in the region.
• Market Access: The Central Highlands faces tougher competition compared to the Southeast region, being further from Ho Chi Minh City and the Northern market. However, Mr. Chinh believes that in a few years, the Central region, especially Da Nang City, will develop strongly. This will lead to a more synchronized investment in logistics, including transportation, distribution systems, markets, and seaports. "Therefore, I believe investing in livestock here presents greater potential than risk," he asserted.

Key Considerations for Investors

Mr. Chinh offered advice for businesses investing in livestock in the Central Highlands:

• Understand Infrastructure Gaps: Investors need a clear understanding of the existing infrastructure and what is still lacking for high-tech livestock farming to develop a feasible and appropriate investment strategy.
• Three Essential Conditions:
  1. Chain-based Farming: Businesses should invest directly or collaborate with multiple enterprises to establish a closed chain covering feed, breeding stock, technological expertise, and processing plants to reduce costs and share both risks and profits.
  2. High-Tech Application: This is non-negotiable for success.
  3. PPP Model: A Public-Private Partnership model, involving both state and private sector participation in the value chain, is recommended.
• Water Conservation Technology: Given the frequent droughts and water shortages during the dry season in the Central Highlands, it is crucial to use water-saving technologies. Traditional pig farming models seen in the Red River Delta or Southeast region are not suitable here.
• 4F Chain Approach: Adopting the 4F (Farm-Food-Feed-Fertilizer) livestock chain ensures both production efficiency and environmental protection. The Central Highlands is ideal for this model as it's a large industrial crop region moving towards organic production, creating a vast market for organic fertilizers—a byproduct of the livestock chain.

Long-Term Strategy for Awakening Potential

Addressing concerns about market access due to remote transportation routes and the current lack of processing or slaughterhouses, Mr. Chinh explained the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's long-term strategy:

• State Support for High-Tech Zones: If high-tech zones are established, the State will support areas where individuals cannot invest, such as slaughterhouses, which will certainly invigorate the livestock sector in the Central Highlands.
• Attractive Mechanisms: There must be mechanisms to attract investors, rolling out the "red carpet" to facilitate their investment. For example, in Dak Lak, the district and province provided favorable land for Hung Nhon Group and De Heus to invest in a high-tech livestock zone that meets environmental protection criteria, is distant from residential areas, and ensures disease safety.

"Investing significant capital requires businesses to create a closed value chain, integrating breeding stock, farm facilities, feed production plants, slaughterhouses, and so on," Mr. Chinh concluded. "Once operational, this can be considered a model based on European technology."

"Thank you, sir!"

Nguồn: danviet.vn