The Department of Animal Husbandry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) jointly held an Asian exhibition and conference on beef and dairy cattle, which opened in Ho Chi Minh City on March 8.

Addressing the opening of the event, Hoang Thanh Van, head of the Department of Animal Husbandry, noted the strong growth of cattle breeding in Vietnam, with an average 7.5% rise in the number of dairy cows and a 3-5% increase in beef cattle each year.

The breeding farms have been expanded in scale, he added.

However, Van said that the sector has satisfied only 6.5% of total domestic demand for beef and 36% of milk demand, resulting in a sharp increase in imported dairy and beef cattle, mostly from Australia.

Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Graig Chittick said that Australia and Vietnam have shared long-standing cooperation in cattle breeding in such forms as provision of breeding stock, transfer of breeding techniques and expert training.

He held that the cooperation and trade in this field between Australia and Vietnam as well as other countries in Asia is a foundation for maintaining sustainable supply chains of milk and beef amidst increasingly fierce competition.

The exhibition and conference is a good chance for Vietnamese management officials, scientists, enterprises and cow breeding farmers to access new products, services and technology of Australia’s livestock breeding sector.

During the two-day event, products serving livestock breeding will be showcased, while various workshops on breeding technology will be held.

VNA