The National Assembly’s Committee on Economic Technology and the Environment has reported to the Assembly’s ongoing debate session that complaints are being made about a chicken farm in Bachiangchaleunsouk district, Champassak province.
According to the committee, despite being rural people, local residents are quite disturbed by the smell coming from the farm.
Deputy Director of the provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department, Mr. Viengsay Sipraphone, told Vientiane Times on Thursday that there are many chicken farms in the district but that the smells are only emanating from the Soukchaleun farm.
A team from the department and the provincial Natural Resources and Environment Department visited the farm to look into the matter and suggest possible solutions.
The farm owner promised to tackle the problem after the end of Lent, at the end of last month, he said.
The farm has two machines that it uses to bake the dung in order to reduce the smell from the chickens’ excrement but this seems insufficient to eliminate the smells as the chickens produce about 50 tonnes of waste a month.
When the dung is dampened by rain, the smell gets stronger. However, the farm owners have promised to buy another four to six machines in order to bake the remaining dung.
The dung that is baked will be sold to farmers as fertiliser.
The farm was originally located far away from communities in Bachiangchaleunsouk district but because of population growth many houses have since been built nearby.
Farms in the district currently provide between 300,000 to 400,000 eggs a day for delivery to people in the provinces of Champassak, Saravan, Xekong and Attapeu.
More eggs will be produced for sale to markets in Savannakhet and Khammuan provinces.
However, the eggs are not packaged attractively so some potential buyers reject them .
If farm owners do not take steps to improve the appearance of their packaging, their market share may decline as more and more people want eggs that look appealing.
The eggs are sold in cardboard cartons and come straight from the farm and are not washed beforehand, so some of them have dung attached. Nowadays, people in Vientiane don’t want to buy eggs if they look dirty.
Source: Vientiane Times
