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REVIEW (Open Access)
Contents Vol 64(12)

Goat meat supply and demand in Vietnam: global context and opportunities and risks for smallholder producers

Luisa Olmo https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8175-8216 A * , Huu Van Nguyen B * , Xuan Ba Nguyen B , Thi Nga Bui https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9998-3227 C , Cuc Thi Kim Ngo D , Viet Don Nguyen https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4273-0672 A C , Nam Hoang E , Luis Emilio Morales https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6935-9634 E and Stephen Walkden-Brown https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0638-5533 A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Environmental and Rural Science, The University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

B University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University, Hue, Vietnam.

C Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi, Vietnam.

D National Institute of Animal Science, Hanoi, Vietnam.

E UNE Business School, The University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

* Correspondence to: luisa.olmo@une.edu.au

Handling Editor: Russell Bush

Animal Production Science 64, AN23416 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN23416
Submitted: 12 December 2023  Accepted: 5 July 2024  Published: 1 August 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY)

Abstract

Goats are the fastest increasing livestock population on earth, growing by 29% in the past decade. In Vietnam, goat numbers grew remarkably faster at 103% in the same period. To understand the reasons for this rapid growth and implications, we explored the characteristics of Vietnamese goat supply and demand and identified risks and opportunities for smallholder goat producers. Our analysis finds that the continued growth of goat consumption in Vietnam is driven by Vietnam’s: (1) large and growing population (97.3 million) and economy; (2) high meat consumption relative to Gross Domestic Product; (3) high social value placed on goat consumption; (4) increasing popularity of meat consumption; (5) established socio-cultural goat consumption practices; (6) increasing preference for grass-fed meat; and (7) increasing supply from neighbouring countries. As a result, growth in Vietnamese goat meat prices has continually outperformed growth in goat supply over the past decade. Supply is mainly produced by thousands of smallholder farmers in Vietnam and neighbouring Laos. Hence, there are important livelihood and rural development opportunities for producers to increase and diversify into goats. In Laos, each additional goat sold represents a 4.75% increase in smallholder household income per year. To reduce risks to goat producers, research is needed to: (1) forecast the current and future demand for goats in Vietnam to prevent oversupply leading to price collapse; (2) understand how premiums are awarded for goat characteristics; (3) investigate pathways for formalising trade and its impacts on smallholders; and (4) establish strategies for producers to improve supply without degrading natural resources, or increase disease outbreak risk.

Keywords: international agricultural development, Lao PDR, livestock, marketing, red meat, rural development, smallholder, Southeast Asia, value chains.

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