Vietnam livestock industry more professional, easier to do business with: De Heus exec

Vietnam’s livestock industry has become more professional with large farm sizes and young entrepreneurs, making it easier to connect them with buyers with high-quality requirements, says Johan van den Ban, general director of De Heus Vietnam.

De Heus Vietnam, part of the Dutch De Heus Group, is a major animal feed company with products for livestock, poultry and aquaculture.

In an interview carried on the Vietnamese government's news portal, van den Ban said that about 15 years ago, when De Heus entered Vietnam, its customers were distributors of animal feed products and nutritional solutions that we produced. These were mainly sold to small farmers, those with around 1,000 chickens, 20 pigs, or a few cows.

Today, however, the Vietnamese livestock industry has become much more professional. This evolution aligns with the expansion of farm sizes, which has allowed De Heus to engage in more direct business projects with farms alongside distributors and agents, he added.

He noted that most of Vietnam’s aquculture output like shrimp, pangasius and fish was exported to large markets like the U.S., Europe, Japan and South Korea, which have stringent food safety and antibiotic residue requirements. Consequently, farmers in the aquaculture value chain understand they must adhere to these increasingly high standards.

The Dutch De Heus Group has established a sustainable development strategy built on four main pillars. Each pillar includes projects designed to meet specific goals, applied globally, with Vietnam being a key market, van de Ban said.

The first pillar focuses on animal feed for food. The second is a sustainable supply chain, ensuring transparency in the sources of our raw materials for animal feed. The third pillar emphasizes community care, including the villages where our customers, farmers, and agents are located. The fourth pillar focuses on enhancing skills, providing a safe working environment, and offering opportunities for personal development.

To implement the four-pillar strategy, hundreds of De Heus technical experts work daily with farmers, providing solutions such as more efficient silo systems for feed, thereby eliminating the need for packaging.

The company also helps farmers assess the environmental impact of their livestock operations, aiming to raise awareness about the necessity of participating in the journey toward Net Zero.

Large farms and young people will be pioneers, and De Heus will connect them with buyers who have high-quality requirements that meet international market standards. De Heus have been doing this for many years in regions where the company operates, including Vietnam, with the goal of leading them on the path to sustainable development while reducing costs and increasing profits, van de Ban noted.

He also reaffirmed that the group’s important strategy, upheld for over 100 years, was not to compete with farmers, but to partner with them.

The executive said he believes cooperation is crucial because, ultimately, they are the key. Without farmers, De Heus has nothing, he added.