The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) caused by H5N1 virus occured in
Vietnam from early 2004 with millions of birds culled. A question was raised: how could
Vietnam limit this epidemic? This research aimed at addressing this question and improving the
income of small poultry producers by identifying the poultry production systems and the various
restraints faced by the poultry supply chains, including the diseases. The research also attemped
to analyze the explicative factors of the poultry development at local level. The research was
conducted by interviewing and looking at the production record system at household-level farms
that possessed a poultry production business at different scales in the suburban of Hanoi from
December, 2008 to November, 2009.
There were four poultry production systems: (1) integrated the poultry production system with a
good bio-security level; (2) layer/reproductive poultry production system at the semicommercial
scale with the low to average bio-security level; (3) broiler bird production system
at the semi-commercial scale with the low to moderate bio-security level and; (4) backyard
poultry production system with low bio-security level. Only the chicken flocks in the system 1
and the layer/reproductive hens in the system 2 were strictly vaccinated in accordance with a
good vaccination calendar. This research found that the farmers’ scientific knowledge was still
limited which led to unstable economic outcomes. Therefore, poultry production in the studied
region was facing grave difficulties. In order to have a sustainable development in the coming
years, it is necessary to equip farmers with good scientific knowledge or to support them to
build improved poultry production systems such as a practical system for disease prevention and
food safety, the HACCP.