VietNamNet Bridge – Some fresh milk agents in the northern province of Vinh Phuc have been pouring milk onto roads and in ponds as it cannot be sold; officials of the Animal Husbandry Agency have declared that this activity needs to stop now.

A pond of milk.

 

Milk agents say that they have no other choice as the milk is past its expiration date.

The Animal Husbandry Agency’s Chief Hoang Kim Giao said pouring milk onto roads and in ponds is uncultured and should even be seen as a crime.

Giao said farmers ought to have processed the milk into cakes, yoghurt or other products or presented it to schools, kindergartens or disadvantaged provinces.

But a milk agent in Vinh Phuc, Nguyen Nhu Tam, explained that they had no other choice as fresh milk can only be preserved for two days.

Tam said he has already had to throw away 15 tonnes of fresh milk this year. Previously, his agents supplied Hanoimilk with 120 tonnes of milk per month. In the past four months, this agent has had to pour out up to 105 tonnes of milk because Hanoimilk wouldn’t buy it.

Hanoimilk’s General Director Tran Dang Tuan said his company is experiencing difficulties so it has had to cut its purchase of fresh milk by a half. As Vinh Phuc is the major source of milk for Hanoimilk, this has hit dairy farmers in Vinh Phuc hard.

On Tuesday, an official from the Animal Husbandry Agency met with representatives of the Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hanoi, Bac Ninh and Vinh Phuc and some milk producers to seek solutions for dairy cow breeders.

According to the Animal Husbandry Agency, farmers in Hanoi, Vinh Phuc and Bac Ninh breed nearly 8,300 dairy cows, including 3,969 cows yielding milk at present, totalling 54.7 tonnes of fresh milk per day. At the same time, the country’s consumption of milk has fallen by 20% because of the melamine scandal.

Giao said the excess volume of milk needs to be taken care of urgently to help farmers, especially as the lunar New Year is approaching – a time when milk factories temporarily close.

Vinh Phuc has two big milk agents which collect around 9.5 tonnes of milk per day. It is estimated that around 1 tonne of milk in Vinh Phuc is redundant, plus 1.25 tonnes in Gia Lam district, Hanoi.

A Vinh Phuc milk agent asked Vinamilk and the International Milk JS Company to increase their purchases of fresh milk by 30% to help farmers.

Vinamilk, the largest milk processor in Vietnam, gave various reasons for not being able to increase its purchases of fresh milk. It said that to sign milk purchasing contracts with farmers, the firm has to conduct a four-step procedure which takes a long time.

It also said that it can only buy fresh milk from farmers with whom it has signed contracts to control milk quality. It also complained that the price for material milk in the international market is VND4,000/kg while it is VND6,000-7,000/kg in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, the International Milk JS Company said it is waiting for a batch of paper to make milk cartons to arrive in Vietnam, which will take at least 4-6 weeks more and it won’t be able to purchase more fresh milk until then.

Ha Yen