Southeastern Vietnam’s latest hatchery has an initial annual production capacity of more than 19 million chicks — for both the meat and egg sectors. In its second phase, this will rise to 38.4 million.
Last week’s ceremony for the inauguration of the facility was attended by senior officials from Vietnam’s agriculture ministry, with representation from Belgium, The Netherlands, and Indonesia, reported Vietnam Plus.
Chair of the provincial People’s Committee hailed the facility as among the outstanding projects in Tay Ninh.
Chicks produced at the hatchery are produced to Global GAP standards of husbandry, according to Bel Ga Joint Stock Company (Bel Ga JSC) director for Vietnam and Cambodia, Kris Van Daele.
State-of-the-art hatchery
A total investment of 200 billion dong (VND; US$8.65 million) in the hatchery was made by Bel Ga JSC.
According to Vietnam Agriculture, the site covers 15,000 square meters (161,500 square feet). Day-old chicks produced there are destined for Cambodia as well as the Vietnamese market.
Among the latest developments to be incorporated in the hatchery are high-tech egg incubators, incorporating system to manage carbon dioxide concentration and circulating air pressure. There will be constant monitoring of all systems throughout the incubation and handling processes. Quality chicks will be traceable throughout the value chain.
Bel Ga’s total investment in the project is estimated at more than US$141 million. A controlled supply chain of clean, sustainable, and export-oriented agri-food products is the main aim of Bel Ga JSC, reported Vietnam Economic News.
For Van Daele, reduced transport time for the chicks is one of the key strengths of the latest hatchery. Keeping stress to a minimum is important for their health and welfare. From the Tay Ninh hatchery, the birds can be transported to Cambodia in little over one hour, and to the heart of Vietnam’s poultry producing region of the Mekong Delta within five hours.
Tay Ninh is the location of the firm’s second poultry incubation facility in Vietnam. Its first hatchery is in Lam Dong in the Central Highlands region.
Already, the company has plans to expand into two other districts of Tay Ninh province. Proposed are high-tech facilities for breeder parents, and 250 modern broiler farms. Total production capacity will be 25 million meat chickens per year.
Vietnam: poultry production trends
Year-on-year, poultry meat and egg production in Vietnam were 11.6% and 10.5% higher in 2020, according to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). Throughout the year, poultry prices were volatile as a result of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, Masan Meatlife made its first foray into the Vietnamese poultry industry when it acquired a 51% share of poultry producer and processor, 3F Viet.
FAS also identified a key recent development in the poultry sector as CP Vietnam’s new integrated poultry complex in Binh Phuoc province. Located in the Southeastern region near to the border with Cambodia, the new site is the largest integrated poultry complex in Asia. This includes a breeding farm, hatchery, broiler farm, slaughterhouse, processing factory, and feed mill. By 2023, planned production is 100 million broilers per annum.
More on Bel Ga JSC and its partners
Bel Ga JSC is a company supported by poultry breeder Belgabroed of Belgium, and Dutch-based feed company, De Heus Group. The organization in Vietnam was established in 2013. It now operates four chicken hatcheries and two incubation factories there.
In 2016, Bel Ga announced plans to construct a poultry breeding farm and hatchery in Myanmar.
Based in The Netherlands, De Heus is a global player in compound feed, premises and concentrated for poultry, livestock and fish. Through its own operations, joint ventures and partnerships, the company is active in 75 countries. It has sales and production sites in Europe, South America and Africa as well as Asia.
In its most recent business development, Royal De Heus completed its acquisition of Polish feed company Golpasz SA last month.
Co-partner in Bel Ga is Belgabroed is a family hatchery in Belgium. Founded in 1950, the firm is a collaboration between the Destrooper and Moonen families, whose businesses merged in 2000. The firm supplies hatching eggs and day-old chicks, as well as NestBorn — a system of hatching chicks in the poultry growing house.
