Investment needed in livestock breeding

Over 60 per cent of Ha Noi's livestocks reared by small-scale households are causing environmental pollution and difficulties in epidemic control. However, lack of funds is preventing farmers from raising the scale of production.

Nguyen Van Minh, deputy head of the Animal Husbandry Unit under the Agriculture and Rural Development Department, said most of the 1.5 million cattle and 18 million hens were bred in households with an area of less than 10,000sq m, many located in residential areas.

These small-scale production systems had inferior production practices and did not adopt bio-security measures to protect the environment and mitigate the risks of animal disease outbreaks.