Mekong birds duck away from avian flu
04-SEP-2008 Intellasia | Vietnamnet
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
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The government is urging farmers to switch from raising free-range ducks, offering them incentives to incorporate bio-safety measures to help prevent another H5N1epidemic.
On a 50square metres yard in My Hoa Commune, Thap Muoi District, Dong Thap Province, three local veterinary workers are inoculating Le Minh Doi's ducks against the H5N1 virus.
Ducks at a farm in Tay Ninh Province. To protect them from diseases the birds are regularly vaccinated and confined to the farm.
"This is the second time they've received the vaccine. The first was 15 days after the eggs hatched," Doi said. "Before vaccination, they were given drops of vitamins to build up their resistance against the vaccine's side effects."
"We also vaccinated them for cholera and flu according to the schedule set by local vets."
The 48-year-old farmer is among many in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta incorporating bio-safety measures into the work of breeding ducks.
A worker undergoes bio-safety measures in cleaning the ducks' cages by spraying.
"My birds are raised on a closed farm. This is in keeping with experts' advice to watch where animals stay and live, to prevent them from mixing with wild birds, and to keep different animal species separate," Doi said. "We give the ducks industrially-processed food and clean water sources that are changed every four days."
"Using the safe farming model brings us a lot of benefits, like money," he said.
Ducklings are raised on the farm in carefully controlled conditions. Even the water they drink is supplied through cylinders.
To raise 1,000 ducks, Doi needs a 30 million dong investment, but reaps a 15-20 million dong profit in addition to a fish pond worth about the same amount after 60 days.
A duck brought up with bio-safety measures usually weighs 3 to 3.5kg, and is sold for 35,000 dong per kilo. Meanwhile, ducks raised the traditional, free-range way end up weighing only 1.5 to 2kg, go for 20,000 dong and 22,000 per kilo.
Thanks to a closed farm, Doi does not need to rely on others to raise up to 2,000 birds.
A worker feeds the birds industrially-processed feed.
"Now, I not only make more money, but have more time to do housework like gardening and helping my kids' with their schoolwork," he said. "Plus, duck droppings can be used in raising fish and that's good for the environment."
When his ducks wandered free range on the paddy fields, two or three people had to be hired to watch over them. He also had to pay landowners 220,000-250,000 dong for each hectare of harvested paddy to let the ducks feed on them.
Free-range birds face higher risks of infections from migratory birds and ingesting pesticides or chemical fertilisers. Doi's ducks were dropping like flies.
"In 2003, I quit farming after losing over 100 million dong when more than 4,000 of my ducks were culled because of bird flu. But then I restocked and went back to breeding ducks in late 2005 since I had no other career options," he said.
Huynh Tan Man of Long An Province's Chau Thanh District has also reformed his ways. "I changed my farming methods in early 2007. Now the flock stays in a fenced area on a section of a canal for at least 10 days before they're moved somewhere else."
"I always check the new field carefully in advance to make sure it's epidemic-free. I also do all the necessary preventive measures, like vaccinations," he said.
"After more than a year of using the bio-safe method, I made a profit of 100 million dong, along with almost 50 million dong from raising fish with duck droppings," he said. The extra money has been used to take care of Man's family of six as well as more ducks. He recently bought an incubator.
"The bio-safety measures really helped us avoid the nightmares that bird flu caused last time," he said.
In the last five years, six outbreaks of the H5N1 virus were responsible for the culling of 46 million birds in Vietnam. Bird flu claimed the lives of 104 people in the country as well.
During the scare, the government banned duck breeding temporarily as waterfowl are less resistant to infections than other kinds of poultry.
Soon after the outbreaks ended, farmers resumed raising ducks. Local authorities imposed several preventive measures to protect flocks from contracting the disease, including the promotion of new duck breeding methods. Dry breeding and breeding in closed farms became more and more popular across the Mekong Delta.
An Giang Province leads the delta in developing safe farming models. Over 13% of the total duck raising households have closed farms. The figure is expected to jump 50% by the end of the year.
In Tay Ninh Province, more than 20,000 ducks are now raised on closed farms, while farmers in Dong Thap Province use fenced trenches, fish ponds and rice fields to raise ducks. So far the new models have proven to be effective.
Many still left behind
Though the benefits of bio-safety are evident, the new methods are still out of the reach for most duck breeders in the Mekong Delta.
On a rough dirt road winding through green rice paddies, Nguyen Van Hoi of Phu Loi District, Soc Trang Province threw unhusked rice mixed with mash and dried fish to thousands of ducks wading around this thin legs.
Hoi still uses the traditional free-range model.
"I have been raising ducks for more than 20 years. I know all the advantages the bio-safety method can bring. However, I have neither the knowledge nor the cash or land to apply the new method so I'm using the traditional one," he said.
"I recognise that free-range farming is out of line with official policy but I cannot give up my means of living," said the father of five.
"The bio-safe model would cost us more money because I'd have to buy feed for the ducks and find enough land to enclose them," Hoi said. "My ducks now eat snails and insects because they roam freely."
Duong Van Chenh, a duck breeder in Soc Trang City, said: "Changing models is hard. The new one requires a big investment, and most of our capital sources limited."
According to him, most breeders don't have the training to apply the new techniques. "We can only apply the bio-safety measures unless the government and relevant agencies offer technical and financial support."
Richer resources
Dr Duong Xuan Tuyen, an specialist from the National Institute of Animal Husbandry, attributes the Mekong Delta's ideal natural conditions to why raising ducks is a main source of livelihood for a lot of farming households, especially poor ones, in the area.
"The region now has 10 provinces that are raising more than 20 million ducks, accounting for 34% of the country's total," according to Tuyen.
"Many still use free-range techniques because they require modest investments and no breeding facilities. Between 65 to 70% of ducks in the Mekong are raised that way," he said.
In addition to cutting costs, letting ducks loose benefits rice crops because they eat pests like brown plant hoppers and yellow snails, provide manure, and clean fields.
"However, the traditional free-range model creates opportunities for epidemics to break out. It's difficult to contain their spread once they do," said Tuyen.
"To ensure sustainable development of the local duck industry, we have to augment the application of bio-safety models on a large scale and minimise small scale production with drastic measures."
Nguyen Ba Thanh, director of the Region 7 Veterinary Centre, said: "Farmers should be familiarised with preventive steps like vaccinations, bio-safety measures or epidemic surveillance. Local veterinary workers should have opportunities to participate in training courses to improve their professional skills.
"It's easy to adopt such measures against epidemics at industrial or closed farms, but small scale ones are hard to keep track of," Thanh said.
Bui Xuan Men, head of Can Tho University's Agriculture Faculty, said: "Developing duck breeding is developing the delta's strengths since it would utilise available natural resources and give resource-poor farmers bigger profits, gainful employment and better dietary standards."
Men suggests that the new models be promoted via mass media so all farmers can apply them and that poor breeders receive low-interest loans to do so.
The government has approved a breeding development strategy until 2020 under which the country's breeding industry will shift to industrial production, said Nguyen Thanh Son, deputy director of the Livestock Production Department.
"The main objective is to have farm-based breeding increase from the current 20% to 33% in 2010, 49% in 2015 and 60% in 2020," Son said.
The government has enacted policies and measures to reach its goals. For example, a master plan for zoning of commercial poultry farms to ensure they are right for their ecological conditions is in the works, he said.
Preferential policies have also been granted to individuals and corporations investing in central breeding and processing operations.
"Breeders using closed farms can get complete financial support from the State to build infrastructure facilities off the farms, and enjoy other perks dealing with land lease times and fees," Son said.
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