Agriculture Minister takes responsibility for pig oversupply crisis

Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), claimed responsibility for the surplus in pig supply, which has resulted in the record low pork prices over the past few months.

Minister Cuong speaks at the Q&A session
Minister Cuong speaks at the Q&A session

Cuong was the first Government cabinet member to answer at the National Assembly Q&A session on June 13.

The Minister answered many questions related to the management and planning of farm production and distribution, amid the consumption deadlock of various agricultural products.

Explaining the surplus of pigs in the past months, Cuong said the main reason is the inflated farming scale, while consumption has been at a standstill due to a lack of connectivity between the production and distribution lines.

Deputy Ton Ngoc Hanh, from Binh Phuoc, raised the question concerning the problem of the continuous devaluation of some agricultural products and asked for solutions from the MARD.

Cuong admitted that the devaluation of farm produce is a common problem within the agricultural sector, which is mainly due to oversupply but also as a result of a lack of processing and limited consumption markets.

He noted that the supply-demand imbalance cannot be avoided in all localities in the short term and Vietnam will put into place the appropriate planning to meet the market demand, based on indications from the world market.

Deputy Nguyen Van Son, from Ha Tinh, said that the MARD planned to have 32.2 million pigs in 2015 and 34.4 million by 2020. The statistics show that the total number of pigs by October 2016 was more than 29 million, lower than the figure planned in 2015 and the market has seen the redundancy of tens of millions of pigs, resulting in losses for farmers.

Son asked for the reason and solutions to the problem. Deputy Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, from Bac Ninh, also asked the same question while requesting comprehensive solutions to the problem.

Answering these questions, Cuong pointed out that the main reason was that the pig farming industry has expanded too quickly, while the structure of Vietnamese meals has changed. Pork accounted for 70-75% of a typical meal in the past but pork is now being replaced by many other products, creating temporary pork excess.
In addition, the processing industry of pork is very poor with 90% of pork being consumed at traditional markets without being processed.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has yet to find any new export markets for pork, with pork only being exported to three foreign markets.

The Minister also admitted that the inadequacies in the planning of pig farming resulted in the oversupply, causing losses for farmers.

Deputy Nguyen Thanh Hong, from Binh Duong, asked for a more active role of the State in planning and rescuing farm products, adding that well-founded planning and policies would help to boost the consumption of pork and other products.