On September 16, 2024, BAF Vietnam Agriculture Joint Stock Company (HOSE: BAF) announced a strategic partnership with Muyuan Foods Co., Ltd (Muyuan), the world’s largest livestock and food group. This collaboration aims to receive the transfer of intelligent livestock technology and apply artificial intelligence to operational processes throughout the entire livestock chain, ensuring biosecurity and environmental friendliness.
One of the critical aspects of the cooperation agreement between BAF and Muyuan is the transfer of intelligent livestock technology. The company stated that in the 4.0 era, applying advanced technologies, automation, digital transformation, and artificial intelligence in livestock farming enhances production efficiency, optimizes resources and ensures biosecurity and environmental safety in line with global standards.
In collaboration with Muyuan, BAF aims to comprehensively improve its closed-loop system, from animal feed factories to livestock farming models. With Muyuan’s extensive experience and successful implementation of biosecurity management measures in China, BAF will learn and apply these practices effectively in Vietnam. This will help minimize the risk of disease outbreaks, protect the health of the pig herd, increase business efficiency, and ensure a stable supply for the market.
In addition,the livestock industry’s development has significantly impacted the environment, from water resource usage to greenhouse gas emissions. However, according to BAF, the advanced technologies transferred from Muyuan will enhance livestock waste management, enabling effective recycling and resource utilization. This will help reduce negative environmental impacts, develop a circular economy chain, and lay a solid foundation for sustainable development – an objective that is increasingly prioritized by businesses and organizations worldwide.
“Muyuan is confident in its ability to support BAF in achieving its goal of expanding the scale to 450,000 sows and 10 million market hogs by 2030. We believe that through this collaboration, both parties can provide Vietnamese consumers with clean, fresh, and safe food while jointly promoting the prosperity and development of the livestock industry in Vietnam. Together, we aim to create a greener, healthier environment and a more prosperous society,” said Mr. Gao Tong, CFO of Muyuan Group.
Mr. Truong Sy Ba, Chairman of the Board of Directors at BAF, also stated: “The partnership between BAF and Muyuan marks the beginning of a new journey for the future. We aim to stop the transfer of farming technology, biosecurity, and environmental solutions and expand our collaboration into many other areas. Together, we will continue to drive the modernization and innovation of the livestock industry.”
The new farming technology enables the goal of raising 10 million market hogs by 2030
According to the published information, Multi-storey Pig Farming Pattern is one of the most critical technologies that Muyuan will transfer to BAF.
Mr. Gao Tong explained that this model has been in China for a long time, with each floor serving a specific purpose. A typical facility consists of 6 floor: floor 5 and 6 are used for breeding sows; floor 3 and 4 are for newly newborn piglets and feeder pigs; and the bottom 2 are for market hogs. This scale allows for efficient management, especially in terms of biosecurity.
Muyuan’s farm also employ advanced waste gas treatment technology. According to a group representative, the system features 4 layers of filtration to ensure the air meets ICU standards before it enters the barn. The airflow is carefully calculated to deliver the precise amount needed inside. Once inside, the gases are accumulated and passed through a separate treatment system, where they are sanitized to a specific standard before being released outside.
Multi-storey Pig Farming Pattern
“Muyuan has numerous farms spread out, and our odor control technology always meets standards, whether in residential areas or more remote locations,” said by Muyuan representative.
More importantly, the Multi-storey Pig Farming Pattern offers many advantages, allowing Mr. Truong Sy Ba to envision even more ambitious goals. At the event, Mr. Ba mentioned that BAF’s target for 2030 increased from 6 million to 10 million market hogs and 450,000 sows.
“This is an ambitious and extremely challenging goal. However, in the context of the African swine fever outbreak, it poses a significant threat to food security. Without companies like ours expanding and managing operations, if the pig population cannot control the disease, there will be a supply shortage, and pork prices could rise to VND100,000/kilogram.”
“We are determined to turn the African swine fever crisis into an opportunity. In reality, no one wants an outbreak. But now that it’s here, we must act,” Mr. Ba shared.
He explained that this goal was set higher following the collaboration with Muyuan.
“Muyuan’s technology offers many advantages. Firstly, it significantly reduces production costs. Secondly, it addresses land use. Compared to conventional methods, Muyuan’s farming technology reduces land costs by 50-70% compared to traditional single-story buildings and even more with multi-story structures. Additionally, filtration systems are in place to ensure biosecurity. Muyuan representatives shared that the odor is filtered to ensure no smell.
Based on this determination, the partnership is a strategic move and a turning point for BAF’s next development steps. It represents a competitive advantage – being a pioneer and staying ahead will significantly enhance competitiveness. Currently, the major competitors in the market are not the large corporations but the small-scale operations. As these smaller players decrease, we aim to capture the market share they leave behind.”
According to Mr. Ba, to achieve the goal, BAF will need to build barns each year to accommodate approximately 1.5 to 1.8 million pigs, which will be introduced in the following years. This figure is equivalent to constructing 12 farms like the Hai Dang complex in Tay Ninh, which has a capacity of 5,000 sows and 60,000 market hogs.
“Currently, BAF operates several large-scale farms such as Hai Dang (Tay Ninh, already operational), Hai Ha (Quang Ninh, soon to be operational), and Giai Xuan (under construction, set to be completed by the end of 2024). Each of these farms supplies 130,000 to 150,000 market hogs annually. This means we must build 11 to 12 farms similar to Hai Dang.”
A complex like Hai Dang is built on about 50 ha. However, the multilayer barn design uses only 25 ha of the area. This means that the land area of Hai Dang can accommodate 2 such farms, resulting in double the production capacity.
“At first, there was some hesitation in protecting the herd, but Muyuan’s livestock technology includes stringent protective processes, ensuring optimal cost-efficiency. Therefore, BAF is fully confident in expanding to a scale of 10 million market hogs. Additionally, the savings on land and support from financial institutions and international banks provide us with the strong financial resources needed to achieve this vision.”
Muyuan Group is located in Nanyang city, Henan province. After over 30 years of development since its establishment in 1992, it has formed a pork industrial chain that integrates feed processing, pig breeding, pig raising, pig slaughtering, and meat processing. Its main products include commercial pigs, breeding pigs, piglets, and pork
Muyuan Group owns a total asset of 210 billion yuan (USD 29.4 billion) and has 140 thousand employees to date. One of its subsidiary Muyuan Foods Co., Ltd. went public in 2014 with its pig farms distributed in 218 counties/districts in 104 cities of 24 provinces/autonomous regions across China. In 2023, Muyuan has supplied about 63.82 million pigs to the market, ranking first in the world