October 8, 2012
Vietnammay grow high-yield rice for animal feed
In order to help reduce the imports of feed ingredients for the domestic feed industry, Vietnam should expand the areas of low-quality rice varieties that give high yield for animal feed production.
High-yield and low-quality rice varieties can be used to replace corn, wheat and wheat bran in animal feed production, Pham Dong Quang, deputy head of the Crop Production Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said.
Currently the IR50404 rice variety is suitable since it is resistant to many pests and gives an average yield of one to two tonnes per hectare higher than other rice varieties, so the total yield may reach up to 18 tonnes a year, he added.
Agreeing with Quang, Professor Vu Duy Giang from the Hanoi University of Agriculture said Vietnam has to increase domestic supply of feed ingredients to substitute for the imported ones.
The Southeast Asian country earns an average of US$3.7 billion from rice exports annually, but also spends about US$3 billion on importing animal feed and ingredients, Giang noted.
In 2011, Vietnam''s animal husbandry consumed about 20 million tonnes of feed, of which 11.5 million tonnes were industrially produced, according to the Department of Livestock Husbandry.
During last year, the country imported 8.9 million tonnes of feed ingredients, including 3.8 million tonnes of corn, wheat and wheat bran, 4.7 million tonnes of soy meal, fish powder and 290,000 tonnes of premix, minerals and other ingredients.
Vietnam''s animal feed demand is expected to rise to 27.4 million tonnes in 2020. The country needs to boost local production of feed ingredients since the world outputs of corn and wheat are forecast to drop, experts noted.