Gabor Fluit, chairman of EuroCham and general director of De Heus Group in Asia and Vũ Mạnh Hùng, deputy chairman of VIDA and chairman and general director of Hùng Nhơn Group

On the occasion of the "Business Connection Forum: Industrial, Trading and High-tech Agriculture EuroCham - Bình Phước 2024," which opens today in the southern province of Bình Phước, Chairman and CEO of Hùng Nhơn Group Vũ Mạnh Hùng and CEO of De Heus Group's Asian region Gabor Fluit shared about their success in over 10 years of collaboration and the direction of both parties in the future.

In past years, Hùng Nhơn and De Heus have collaborated extensively in developing high-tech agricultural chains. Could you please share the achievements of this collaboration?

Vũ Mạnh Hùng: By 2024, the DHN joint venture will enter its tenth year. As you may know, the scale of most Vietnamese agricultural businesses is still modest. Therefore, we need to stand on the shoulders of giants, relying on them to grow together. This is why we chose De Heus to fulfill the goal of becoming a leading agricultural corporation.

For me, Gabor Fluit is not only a business partner but also a reliable friend. As the CEO of a company from Europe with over 110 years of experience, Gabor Fluit has greatly assisted us. Thanks to this close collaboration, we have become more confident in our investment decisions, even during market fluctuations.

One thing that brings me joy is that during our work, myself, Gabor Fluit, and Johan van den Ban, CEO of De Heus Vietnam, all understand each other very well.

When we have an idea, just by talking to each other, we can make decisions quickly. We share the same values, from lifestyle and thinking processes to work ethic.

Gabor Fluit: Currently, DHN is focusing on developing high-quality, disease-free breeding sources because in animal husbandry, breeding quality is crucial.

Over the years, we have seen disease outbreaks causing significant losses to the livestock industry. Therefore, we are investing in building disease-free areas to ensure stable high-quality breeding sources, and we have chosen very convenient and suitable locations for this.

Hùng truly understands which locations are suitable for long-term investments. De Heus plays a role in finding markets for high-quality breeding sources such as one-day-old chicks, etc., to supply to large farms in our supply chain. These breeds are the best selected and will yield the highest productivity.

Việt Nam has joined various free trade agreements. Many companies from around the world are exporting to Việt Nam. If Vietnamese farmers do not have competitively priced products, they will surely lose in the long run, even on their home ground.

Therefore, the key focus of the DHN joint venture is to ensure that all members of our value chain have good breeds, good feed, good techniques, and solutions for market access.

And that is the big focus of the joint venture.

Gabor Fluit, could you share more about De Heus's plans and collaborations with Hùng Nhơn in the future?

Gabor Fluit: On March 6, we inaugurated our fourth plant in Vĩnh Long Province. This specialised plant produces feed for shrimp using advanced European and American technologies.

Gabor Fluit (first from left), chairman of EuroCham and general director of De Heus Group in Asia and Vũ Mạnh Hùng (first from right), deputy chairman of VIDA and chairman and general director of Hùng Nhơn Group at the "EuroCham High Technology Agriculture, Industrial & Commercial Enterprises Connection Forum – Bình Phước Province 2024"

On May 18, De Heus and Hùng Nhơn will co-host the inauguration of a modern high-tech poultry breeding area in Tây Ninh. We will also launch several other projects to serve the white-feathered poultry production chain aimed at exporting.

Regarding the strategic development of the high-tech agricultural chain in 2024 and the vision until 2030, the De Heus – Hùng Nhơn collaboration will invest in building large-scale, modern livestock farms that meet international standards.

By 2030, the goal is to achieve approximately 37,500 pig breeding and sows in the Central Highlands, southeast and south central regions. We also target to supply 83 million chicken breeds and meat in Tây Ninh. The estimated total annual revenue is around US$2 billion.

In addition, De Heus will also implement several sustainable livestock projects. De Heus's goal is to help livestock farmers who really want to sustain their career, mainly in terms of capital, technology, and solutions for them to continue their career.

For export products, market requirements are increasingly strict. Therefore, all members of the chain must meet environmental hygiene standards, food safety regulations and criteria related to emission reduction, in order to build a green economy.

Việt Nam has a policy to ban the use of antibiotics in animal feed by 2025. Therefore, many of De Heus's upcoming projects will focus more on this issue.

To be more proactive in livestock feed raw materials and to reduce imports, De Heus is also collaborating with several provinces in the Central Highlands to establish corn and cassava raw material areas for animal feed production. This is a key project for De Heus in Việt Nam.

As the Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Digital Agriculture Association (VIDA), Vũ Mạnh Hùng, could you share with us the role of the association in Việt Nam?

Vũ Mạnh Hùng: VIDA serves as a platform that gathers resources to carry out practical tasks such as: improving technological infrastructure for agriculture, international connectivity, and expanding markets. This is to promote and develop Việt Nam's agriculture towards digitalisation with the ultimate goal of "Wealth from Agriculture".

VIDA has been supporting the development of large-scale projects to modernise Việt Nam's agriculture, introducing high-quality agricultural centers from around the world to Việt Nam.

We also set up global online agricultural trading platforms, and build agricultural product processing and preservation centers in various regions.

Currently, the Government is determined to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, striving to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 43.5 per cent by 2030, and achieve over 70 per cent renewable energy by 2050. Therefore, we are also planning to have a comprehensive direction for high-tech agriculture and digital agriculture in the practical operation of all farms.