Dự án nông nghiệp " Milestone 9A Competency Assessment - Monitoring & Evaluation " doc

The nine key farmers have been active in involving their local farmers in training and especially in project activities such as animal breeding with village bulls and detection of cows b

Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development

010/06/VIE Training and Extension

Milestone 9A Competency Assessment - Monitoring & Evaluation

March 2010

Milestone 9 – Objectives 2 & 3 Competency Assessment & Monitoring & Evaluation

Overview

The Nghia Dan District is a very large district and part of the project area has little technical support for animal husbandry A new sub-district is being formed that will include the project site; however, this will have little effect on extension for a number of years

One weakness of the project is the lack of technicians (trainers) to extend the project technologies around the district The use of key farmers, demonstration sites and farmer technicians has been effective, but their contact is limited to nearby farmers or relatives in nearby villages The concept of Farmer Field Schools (FFS) and farmer discussion groups should be promoted in the district

Of the nine key farmers, three have been excellent at taking up the technologies and embracing change and the challenges; four have been slower to adopt the technologies, one has not been active and another has withdrawn due to ill health

The 19th May Company has lacked the structure or skill base to be able to develop a model farm This is disappointing as it was hoped that the 19th May Company would have provided the district with a larger scale model as well as a supply of genetic material in the future The Company was developing some animal husbandry skills and had developed a 34 cow dairy herd with 16 milking cows; but in 2010 handed its dairy development to the HT Dairy Processing Co with the development of a 6,400 cow farm

The nine key farmers have been active in involving their local farmers in training and especially in project activities such as animal breeding with village bulls and detection of cows being “in heat” for successful mating, sowing and harvesting new pasture species and silage making The key farmers were supplied with small forage choppers, small silage tanks, new species of pasture; eartags for their cattle and weigh bands to record cattle liveweights Five of the key farmers have been active in being key speakers at project workshops around the area at district level This has been one of the best aspects of the key farmers programme Five key farmers were taken on a field trip to Thailand in April

2008 This was very effective in encouraging the key farmers and demonstrating the opportunities to developing beef production

Many of the new technologies were completely new to the region and it was very important

to trial the technologies and make sure that they were robust and suitable

Mullato II and Ubon paspalum had never been

planted in Vietnam at the beginning of the project

The use of Napier grass and Rhuzi as a forage

was just starting Silage had never been made in

the 3 project villages Cross breeding of cattle

was new and farmers had little or no

understanding of nutrient balancing

The project (through the project farmers) now have working examples showing the effectiveness of some very important key developments i.e bi-product silage, new pasture, crossbreeding and increased cattle growth rates) These examples are only now reaching for wider implementation and adoption For many farmers new pastures (hybrid Napier (elephant grass) and green-feed maize are providing good feed supplies across nearly the whole season, that they feel comfortable managing without silage

Trainers of Trainers (ToT’s):

The project trained three ToT’s The key ToT has been Mr Toan; a senior member of the BCFRC with a strong academic background in his position Mr Toan developed training material and build on his previous experience

Knowledge developed by Mr Toan has been the experience with the new pasture species as well as providing training to both farmers and technicians in beef and dairy farming and animal husbandry management Toan has managed the delivery of the village bull project and worked closely with the project key farmers, the distribution of pasture seed to project and non-project HH, and the distribution of pasture tillers for transplanting in two new non-project villages (names xx) He has taken responsibility in arranging farmer training at Bavi

Mr Ly is the Senior Extension Officer in the Nghe Dan District Mr Ly is based in Thai Hoa Township and has a team of six technicians and is responsible for all aspects of agriculture, with 2 technicians on animal and forage extension in the District Mr Ly and his team have worked mostly with non-project villages, introduced project technologies, and new pasture species are now established on 26 farms In 2009 they had 30 village training seminars to

1060 farmers of which 1/3 was pasture and livestock focused

Mr Hoa is a senior animal breeding technician from BCFRC that was seconded to the project for 6-months in 2007 to provide training in animal breeding, AI and forage management He was effective during his 6 months assignment of living and working in the village

Table 1 provides a summary of the number of farmers receiving and adopting technology from TOT’s

Table 1 Trainer-of Trainers (TOT), technology, number of farmers receiving and adopting

technologies

Person & Area Technology No Farmers

knowledge transfer

No Farmers adopting new technology

Toan Village bull 5 HH as bull

Hoa AI & breeding 45 (mostly non-

project)

40% conception rate

Key Competencies Transferred to ToT’s:

1 Introduction of new training methods, i.e use of Powerpoint, participatory training and the use of a practical demonstrate approach

2 Use of demonstration training techniques, on farm demonstration and practical workshops

3 Management of project coordination and farm management systems

4 Introduction to adult training methodologies

5 Introduction and evaluation of new pasture species

6 Introduction to silage technologies

7 Training in nutrient balancing and the use of bi-products

8 Undertaking training technicians in animal breeding concepts and methodology

Trainer of Farmers:

Farmer Association leaders in each village

The Farmer Association (FA) leaders do not have strong depth in animal husbandry and do not fill the role of farm advisors; their role seems more like a coordinator of activities; they could fill the role of coordinator and facilitator for FFS

Technicians from the 19 th May Company,

The technicians at the 19th May Co are now totally committed to the new T&H international company and are not available as ToT’s within the beef project These technicians over time will increase their knowledge of animal husbandry and dairy production

Nghe Dan District Animal Husbandry Department

Their impact has been strongest around their base in Thai Hoa with non-project cattle farmers and especially small village dairy farmers Technologies adopted by farmers include chopping forage to enhance intake, feeding leafy grasses, using new grass species introduced by project, silage making

Farmers teaching Farmers

This has been very successful within the project, where the key project farmers are seen within their community as trainers At formal and informal workshops these key project farmers have provided training directly to farmers’ within and outside the project villages The number of trainers of farmers that have been directly trained by the project has been:

¾ Technicians from 19th

May Company 5

¾ Technicians Nghe Dan District 21

¾ Farmer Association Leaders 3

Farmer Training:

Training over the period of the project fell into three

distinct approaches The first approach was providing

hands on practical demonstration training directly to the farmers This practical training involved members of the project team, using the key project farmers farms as demonstration sites where technicians undertook practical tasks such as LWT recording, silage making and pasture establishment Over the first 2-years of the project 20 demonstration training events were undertaken The accumulated number of farmers attending was 131, technicians 72 and 152 hours of training was given The events are listed in Table I The list does not include normal farm visits where informal training and discussion is undertaken Approximately 50 informal visits have been undertaken in a wide range of locations, which includes the 3 project villages as well as farmers in Nghia Dan and Bavi areas

Table I: Project site demonstration & practical field training

The second training approach was based on

more formal workshops within the project

site These workshops were normally held

in a classroom environment and had

duration of approximately 4-hours The

project team presented technical data as

well as undertaking some training on trainer

methodology, adult learning and systems

management The programme normally

involved both technicians and farmers and in

year 2 the use of key project farmers as

trainers of farmers was encouraged and

developed as a concept Over the first

2-years of the project 14 workshop training

events were undertaken The accumulated number of farmers attending was 203, technicians 119, and 62 hours of training was given The training events are listed in Table

II

Use of Key Farmers as an Extension Method within the Project

05/03/07

19 May

Farm Management

Nghai

Yen W/S

Tim Harvey /Chesterfield Beef Production 22 18 4 4 05/03/09

Nghai

Son W/S

Tim Harvey /Chesterfield Beef Production 22 18 4 4 06/03/09 Thai Hoa W/S

Tim Harvey /Chesterfield Beef Production 25 6 18 4

The third training approach was international and national specialised training Three

specialised workshops were undertaken by BCFRC at Bavi with project farmers and

technicians travelling from Nghia Dan to Bavi The workshops were delivered in Vietnamese

by experience Bavi staff These workshops were normally of 3-days duration The format

involved classroom training as well as more practical farm visits and discussion with

farmers.International training involved a 5-day filed trip to Thailand to look at new pasture

species and beef production systems This training was most successful and has led to

extension and use of new tropical pasture species These new species have proved very

successful and Dr Michael Hare, who led the trainings in Thailand, has now established an

agency in Vietnam for the formal importation and distribution of pasture seeds Over the first

2-years of the project 4 workshop training events were undertaken The accumulated

number of farmers attending was 31, technicians 20, and 307 hours of training was given

The events are listed in Table III

One formal training event in NZ was undertaken in 2007 This training involved 2 people Mr

Deip and Mr Toan and included training in beef production systems, beef marketing,

conservation of forage and training methodologies A second training event for 2 people

was held in Queensland, Australia in Feb 2010 One Massey University scholarship was

completed at the beginning of the project with Mr Toan spending 2-months in NZ

undertaking practical and formal training in NZ farming systems

Tropical Pasture &

25/02/10 BCFRC W/S

Tim Harvey Phil Rolson Michael

26/02/10 BCFRC W/S

Tim Harvey Phil Rolson Michael Hare

Final workshop, breeding, forages,

Farmer-to-farmer training The number of other farmers trained by key farmers and the

number adopting the technology is summerized in Table x

Table x Farmer to farmer training outcome based on interviews

No Farmers adopting new technology

Reason for Non-adoption

Main lessons from key farmers

• New grasses: Ubon paspalum rated as more palatable than Mulato II for beef cattle and best fed as fresh grass

• Persistence issues with Mulato II if allowed to get long at the end of the wet season and then cut low to ground in dry season;

• Napier grass (VO6) useful in silage as a mix with cassava;

• Stylo productivity is too low for farmers

• Waste land on hill sides and at edges of fields can be developed with Ubon

Impact of different training approaches

The Nghia Son FA Leader (Mr Tran Quac Hong) ranked the farmer impact of training in the following order (i) Workshops by the NZ experts; (ii) Workshops by the Vietnamese experts; (iii) farmer-to farmer training While outside experts may be a catalyst for change the role of farmer-to-farmer training will ensure sustainability in learning post project, especially when the District Extension service has a very high number of farmers to service

Extension beyond the project

Extension beyond the project is being achieved by the contacts and relationships built up during the project including (see Capacity Building Section):

BCFRC (Bavi) - The BCFRC has been active in the evaluation of the new pasture species and the extension and training of technicians and farmers in a number of other districts closer to Sontay

Vietnam Goat & Rabbit Research Centre (SonTay) - The team has visited the Centre twice and has presented the project key findings and discussed the role of different pastures and legumes

Other Extension - The project has been a catalyst for interaction and extension of technologies with the NZ team visiting Hue and Cantho Universities in Vietnam as well as Sunranaree and Ubon Ratchathani Universities in Thailand We believe that

we have laid down a strong foundation for future development in cattle production and the project has had a significant role in capacity build at many levels

Commercial Development - Seed sale links developed between Ubon Ratchathani

University (Thailand) and Asia Tradimex Co of Hanoi for seed distribution of new forages in Vietnam

Training Outcome:

Farmer attitudes to change and acceptance of new technologies was variable with a small proportion of farmers not prepared to adopt or change their approach The reasons for this varied from lack of motivation due to age, enjoyment of the lifestyle of communal grazing of cattle, lack of labour or capital to implement change, lack of education to understand the concepts The number of farmers in this category ranged from 10-25% of groups evaluated This level is not surprising given the rural nature of the project site The majority of farmers accepted the new technology in some form with some making radical changes, others just changing minor aspects such as nutrition balancing The three most successful

technologies introduced through training was the introduction of new tropical species of pasture, nutrient balancing (especially reduction in fibre intake) and the use of new improved genetic bulls Where farmers could get direct access to these technologies, the majority of those attending workshops and training showed high levels of interest and evaluation post workshop showed that the number of farmers implementing these changes was relatively high The use of silage technology for the conservation of bi-product had variable results with approximately 20% of our key farmers making silage regularly, however, the others found with the new species of pasture and understanding of nutrition that they could provide animals with improved nutrition through the dry season without the use of silage The most important concept regarding the use of bi-product was the ensiling of cassava leaf; this has high potential in both providing additional forage as well as improved protein Due to the short nature of the project it is difficult to measure the full extent of technology uptake; however, the early results are encouraging Appendix I, is a list of key training material developed in conjunction with Bavi BCFRC

Training Assessment

Trainer of Trainers

Each ToT was assessment over 2009 at workshop I delivered in BCFRC and I

development in Thai Hao Township and two developed to new villages in the project site Assessment covered 3 types of delivery in formal workshop; village based field training and farmer one on one assessment

Farmer Trainers Workshops

Technology

Depth Networking

Presentation Style

Farmers training farmers is a lot more informal, the key farmer trainer is Mr Ha, who has

undertaken farmer training in silage making However, the village bull managers/farmers have a key role in informal training

Each of the project village has FA Leaders These are positions within the district and each leader has the responsibility of coordinating training However, they do not undertake formal training themselves

3 That the New District continue to develop “key-farmers” as an extension methodology And develop the concept of Farmer Field Schools in the area using the Farmer Ass leaders as co-ordinators

Appendix 1

Training Material Developed:

This will be supplied to the CARD office on CD   

Due to the size of the files