Author : Duong Duy Dong

Summary : The study was conducted in two provinces in Southeast Vietnam to look into the characteristics of two chicken production systems; the complete confinement system with hybrid white broilers, and the complete/semi-confinement system with colored chickens. These characteristics were found out along with relationships to the chicken breeder companies, feed mills, veterinary medicine and facilities suppliers and the government agencies. Differences between complete confinement and semi-confinement systems were attributed to the breed raised, type of house floor, nutrient density and cost of feed used, and performances of the white broilers compared to colored chickens raised. White broiler production has the advantage of providing high profit (absolute value) to raisers because of better broiler performance, efficient use of farm land, high volume of chicks, feed, medicine purchased, and more batches of birds raised per year. Colored chicken production, on the other hand, has lower risk from diseases, high stable price for both day-old chicks and finished chicken, lower input requirements and higher efficiency of investment. Results of this study revealed that to improve the productivity and profitability of chicken production in the study sites, the following suggestions are recommended: establishment of rural banks in the area to meet the capital needs of chicken raisers; enhance the technical know-how of farmers through training courses, seminars and other kind of extension works; increase the capacity of colored chicken breeder farms in producing greater number of quality parent stocks; establish closer links between white broiler breeder farms and farmers in the production of day-old chicks; encourage the local production of feed grains to reduce excessive dependence on imports, and promote the efficient utilization of farm by-products in poultry feed production, reducing import tax of feed ingredients.