Bird’s nest farming in Vietnam has been developing strongly in recent years, the Chinese export market has also officially opened, but the planning, management of the farming area, and the quality of the bird’s nests serve the needs of consumers. domestic use and export still face many challenges.
This is the opinion of the delegates at the Conference to evaluate the situation of swiftlet breeding and build data on swiftlet house for export organized by the Department of Livestock Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh, February 16.
Spontaneous development
The report of the Department of Livestock Production shows that swiftlet farming for commercial purposes is a new production activity that has appeared since 2004 in some southern provinces. However, in the past 10 years, this profession has developed rapidly with many different types and sizes.
Currently, there are 42/63 provinces in the country that raise swiftlets. The number of swiftlet houses has increased markedly in recent years, by 2022, the whole country has 23, 665 swiftlet houses.
The locality with the fastest growing number of swiftlet houses is Kien Giang with about 3,000 swiftlet houses, followed by Khanh Hoa, Lam Dong… The output of Vietnam’s swiftlet nests is about 130-150 tons. /year.
Main export market oats of our country is China, the Chinese community in the US, Australia, New Zealand.
[Kiên Giang: Liên kết theo chuỗi từ sản xuất đến tiêu thụ tổ yến]
Mr. Duong Tat Thang, Director of the Department of Livestock Production, said that studies and surveys show that the potential and prospects of developing swiftlet farming in our country are great, which is an industry for very high-value products. .
Many provinces and cities have natural advantages to develop swiftlet farming, creating jobs and significant income for the locality and protecting the ecological environment.
However, not every locality or region can develop swiftlet farming.
Mr. Duong Tat Thang, Director of the Department of Livestock Production, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development spoke at the conference. (Photo: Xuan Anh/VNA)In addition, although the official export door to China (the market that consumes 80% of the world’s bird’s nest) has officially opened, the intrinsic value of the Vietnamese bird’s nest value chain is still very much existing. arising from spontaneous production, lack of supervision and methodical management from the very beginning.
The actual situation of swiftlet farming establishments is located in residential areas, accounting for more than 90% bird nest built on people’s houses.
In some provinces, people invest in building very solid swiftlet houses right in densely populated areas with very high costs, especially at the end of 2019 the construction of new bird nest houses, housing expansion is widespread and spontaneous. development, the construction of houses then converted into bird nest houses, making it difficult for local authorities and specialized agencies to control, affecting the socio-economic and security, order and environmental sanitation.
Vu Cuong, Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that Vietnam’s bird’s nest industry has many development opportunities when the consumption market is increasingly open. wide.
The world bird’s nest market is estimated to be worth over 5 billion USD with a total output of about 2,800 tons. In particular, China is the world’s largest import market of bird’s nests, importing over 2,000 tons per year.
Vietnam is one of four countries that can officially export bird’s nest to China, but the market share is still very low compared to demand.
However, the biggest challenge of Vietnam’s bird’s nest industry swiftlet farming is mainly spontaneous development, no production plan has been developed by product line; lack of connectivity, so it has not been built yet trademark For products that are mainly exported raw and small-scale, the value obtained is not commensurate.
Meanwhile, the requirements of consumers, especially in China, are increasingly high both in terms of quality and sustainability factors such as traceability and environmental protection.
Effective management planning
A representative of the Sub-Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of Kien Giang province shared that Kien Giang is a locality with great potential for developing swiftlet farming, and is also the province with the largest number of swiftlet houses in the country.
Mr. Le Thang, Director of Khanh Hoa Provincial Sub-Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine shared information on the development of the local swiftlet industry at the conference. (Photo: Xuan Anh/VNA)However, this activity mainly develops spontaneously, without planning; from raising, processing to consuming products that have not yet formed a value chain to improve the value of bird’s nests and products from bird’s nests, which have not been traced.
Currently, many swiftlet houses do not have birds to nest or have very low yields; many swiftlet houses are located in inner city areas and concentrated residential areas; nearly half of the swiftlet house was not used properly, renovated and expanded from a house to a house to raise swiftlets.
Besides the economic benefits from the exploitation of products from swiftlets, the massive development of swiftlet farming also raises many problems that need to be considered, considered and adjusted such as noise pollution from playing loudspeakers and the cries of swiftlets have greatly affected the activities and lives of people in residential areas; management of construction, environment, epidemic, urban landscape… is not strict.
Mr. Thai Quoc Hieu, Deputy Head of the Sub-Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine in Tien Giang province, also said that the management of swiftlet farming is currently facing many difficulties. The reason is that there are no regulations on sanctions for the construction of swiftlet houses that are not in the swiftlet breeding area.
The management agencies have not yet issued instructions on registering the code of the swiftlet house; There are no technical standards and regulations in the construction and operation of bird’s nest houses, so the development and economic efficiency in investment in bird nest farming have not brought into full play the available potential.
The number of swiftlet houses is too much in areas with favorable conditions for development, leading to scarcity of food sources for swiftlets, slow growth of flocks, and reduced production. Bird’s nest products have very high value but have not been able to manage the quality and trace the origin of the product.
According to Mr. Thai Quoc Hieu, in order to develop production for export of bird’s nest products, Tien Giang province is synchronously implementing many solutions from propaganda to management in attracting and breeding activities. Building and promoting the brand of bird’s nest and products from oats in the province into a product with strengths, high competitiveness in quality and prestige, becoming the main product line of the province’s bird’s nest.
At the same time, the province also develops production according to the product chain, linking the stages from production, processing to product consumption, in which processing and consumption enterprises play the role of ordering direction. , raw material standards, production support, in order to promote the strength of association as a premise to promote the rapid and effective development of the swiftlet farming industry.
In order to develop swiftlet farming in the long term, many localities have suggested that the Department of Livestock Production should soon issue instructions for registration and granting of swiftlet house codes; coordinate with the Department of Animal Health to advise the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to promulgate a general process, a manual to guide the export of Vietnamese bird’s nests to China under the Protocol so that localities can organize synchronous implementation, uniform throughout the country.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also needs to issue standards and technical regulations in the construction and operation of bird’s nest houses; propose the Government to issue regulations on sanctions for the construction of swiftlet houses not in the swiftlet breeding area in order to effectively manage the planning of the rearing area.
Xuan Anh (VNA/Vietnam+)