July 16, 2026
 

Veterinary staff shortages undermine disease control in Vietnam's Lao Cai as ASF spreads to 15 communes

86 of 99 commune-level agricultural departments lack dedicated livestock or veterinary personnel, forcing disease surveillance to rely on village heads and farmer self-reporting.

Vietnam's Lao Cai province is grappling with a critical shortage of veterinary personnel at the commune level that is hampering its response to African swine fever and other livestock disease outbreaks, even as the province's total livestock population reaches 1.47 million head and its poultry flock exceeds 13.2 million birds.

As of early June 2026, ASF had spread to 158 households across 52 villages in 15 communes, resulting in the culling of 1,228 pigs. The province has also recorded four rabies cases in dogs. Provincial authorities have distributed 191,031 doses of vaccine and 17,254 litres of disinfectant in the first phase of 2026, with 181,200 doses administered.

The core constraint is structural. Statistics show that 86 of Lao Cai's 99 commune and ward-level agricultural departments have no dedicated livestock or veterinary staff, and most lack fisheries personnel entirely. A single official is frequently responsible for agriculture, irrigation, forestry, livestock, veterinary medicine, disaster prevention and food safety simultaneously.

Do Cao Quyen, Chairman of Mo Vang commune People's Committee, said disease surveillance had become almost entirely dependent on part-time staff, village heads and farmer self-reporting. "The lack of dedicated veterinary officers means that disease surveillance mainly relies on part-time staff, village heads, and the reporting habits of livestock farmers, which significantly affects the ability to detect and contain outbreaks early," he said.

Local authorities are calling on the province to review staffing allocations and assign dedicated livestock, veterinary and aquaculture professionals to agricultural communes with large-scale production, warning that without a trained grassroots workforce, provincial-level disease prevention plans cannot be fully implemented.