Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong Hails Binh Phuoc's "Steel Fists" in High-Tech Agricultural Restructuring
During a working session with Binh Phuoc Provincial Party Committee and People's Committee, and a field visit to two major livestock projects in the province last weekend, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, lauded these initiatives as "key projects" and "two steel fists" in restructuring agricultural production towards a modern, regional, and global scale.
Impressive Professional Approach
During his visit to Binh Phuoc, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong led a delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), accompanied by Binh Phuoc Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Van Loi. They inspected the Thuy Thao cold-climate chicken farm, part of the Hung Nhon Group, in Thuan Phu commune, Dong Phu district.
Mr. Vu Manh Hung, Chairman and CEO of Hung Nhon Group, reported to the Minister's delegation that the Group currently operates over 130 hectares of closed-loop livestock farms adhering to GlobalGAP standards. This includes 20 broiler chicken farms supplying over 3 million chickens to the market, utilizing advanced technology from Big Dutchman (Germany). All farming stages are automated, enhancing efficiency, ensuring clean agricultural products for the market, and moving towards establishing disease-free zones. The Group also has 8 laying hen farms providing over 130 million eggs, and 48 clean pig farms supplying 9,600 sows and 250,000 breeding pigs annually. Additionally, the Group has built a fertilizer production plant with a capacity of 40,000 tons/year.
Hung Nhon Group currently operates under a closed-loop value chain model, encompassing selection, production of breeding pigs and chickens; pig slaughtering; organic animal feed production; organic fertilizer production; and marketing of top-quality Vietnamese livestock products, aiming for export to Southeast Asia.
"Given the complex situation of pig diseases, especially African Swine Fever (ASF) which heavily impacts farmers, and the consistently high demand for healthy, disease-free genetic stock for herd restocking, Hung Nhon Group and De Heus have collaborated to invest in the DHN High-Tech Agricultural Complex project in Dak Lak province, spanning 200 hectares. Our breeding center has a scale of 2,400 great-grandparent pigs and 24,000 breeding pigs directly imported from the Netherlands, with a total investment of 66 million USD," Mr. Vu Manh Hung stated.
The farming process at the center will integrate Industry 4.0 technology throughout, ensuring rigorous quality control across the entire facility, optimizing breeding efficiency, and improving economic outcomes. Simultaneously, the center will create job opportunities for hundreds of ethnic minority laborers in Dak Lak province and provide specialized training in livestock farming.
Mr. Hung also shared that during the 2019-2022 period, Hung Nhon Group plans to further expand its investment in new farm systems in Binh Phuoc, increasing the total laying hen flock to 700,000, doubling egg production to 260 million eggs/year, and also doubling broiler chicken output to approximately 6 million birds.
Collaboration with CP Group for Global Export Ambitions
On the same day, the Minister also worked with CP Group. Representatives from CP provided a summary of the CPV Food export project, aiming for 1 million chickens per week, located in Chon Thanh district, Binh Phuoc.
Mr. Vu Anh Tuan, Deputy General Director of CP, proudly affirmed: "This is one of CP's largest projects, which will include a world-class animal feed mill with a Phase 1 capacity of 0.3 million tons/year. The total investment for Phase 1 of the project is 230 million USD. We aim to export processed chicken meat products to Japan, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and globally, with the goal of becoming the 'Kitchen of the World.'"
According to Mr. Tuan, the project will also establish 5 parent breeding chicken farms with a capacity of 0.5 million birds; 1 hatchery with a capacity of 53.6 million chicks/year; 21 broiler chicken farms with a capacity of 52 million birds/year; 1 slaughtering and processing plant with a capacity of 116,000 tons of chicken meat/year and 36,000 tons of processed chicken meat/year; and a feather meal plant producing 2,100 tons/year.
Significant Opportunities for Livestock Development
Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Van Loi provided specific details on the production of key commodities and crops in Binh Phuoc, livestock activities, the new rural development program, and the progress of building 1,000 km of rural concrete roads and lifting 1,000 households out of poverty. He specifically noted that for livestock projects, the province has implemented planning for biosecurity to meet export standards. He also requested MARD's support in facilitating the consumption of the province's livestock products.
In his discussion with Secretary Nguyen Van Loi, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong praised Binh Phuoc for creating conditions that attract strong investment in high-tech and biosecure livestock farming. The Minister acknowledged the contributions of both Hung Nhon and CP to the development of Binh Phuoc's livestock sector and the national livestock industry, as well as their efforts in bringing Vietnamese agricultural products to global markets.
The Minister also advised Binh Phuoc to strongly develop peri-urban agriculture in conjunction with tourism. He emphasized that the province's crop and livestock development must follow a high-tech and biosecure direction, encouraging more businesses to participate, not just for high quality but also for value chain production. To export to Europe and other developed countries, he stressed the critical importance of environmental considerations. Importers will conduct on-site inspections, which will require organic fertilizer processing plants at the farms; without them, exports will not be possible.
Binh Phuoc benefits greatly from its proximity to the 12-million-strong Ho Chi Minh City market. By closely aligning with this huge consumer market, products from converted crop and livestock areas will have no shortage of outlets. "A strategy is needed to make Binh Phuoc a regional livestock center and one of the country's key livestock hubs," the Minister reiterated.
"These are truly two key projects and two 'steel fists' in restructuring agricultural production towards a modern, large-scale direction. We believe Binh Phuoc province has sufficient grounds to establish itself as a High-Tech Agricultural Center for the entire region; to develop high-tech livestock farming and become a model for the livestock industry," Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong concluded.
