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Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development 010/06/VIE Nghe An Province Sustainable Village Based Beef Cattle Development, Training and Extension Programme Project Report Milestone

Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development

010/06/VIE

Nghe An Province Sustainable Village Based Beef

Cattle Development, Training and

Extension Programme

Project Report

Milestone 10

Final SIX-MONTHLY REPORT

March 2010

Table of Contents

1 Institute Information 1

2 Project Abstract 2

Executive Summary 2

3 Introduction & Background 2

Implementation Highlights 2

Summary of Key Technology Improvements 3

Smallholder Benefits 3

Modelling Benefits 4

Potential for Increased Production and Improved Profitably 4

Capacity Building 5

Publicity 5

Project Management 6

4 Report on Cross-Cutting Issues 6

Environment 6

Gender and Social Issues 6

5 Implementation & Sustainability Issues 6

Issues and Constraints 6

Intervention Options 7

Sustainability 7

6 Next Critical Steps 7

1 Institute Information

Project Name Nghe An Province, sustainable village based

beef cattle development, training and extension project

Vietnamese Institution 19 May Fruit & Vegetable Co; and Bavi Cattle

and Forage Research Centre

Vietnamese Project Team Leader Mr Hoang Van Tao

Australian Organisation AusAID

Australian Personnel Mr Tim Harvey

Completion date (original) December 2009

Completion date (revised) July 2010

Reporting period Six month Intervals

Contact Officer(s)

In New Zealand: Team Leader

Name: Mr Tim Harvey Telephone: 00 64 6 350 5119

Position: Director Fax: 00 64 6 350 5633

Organisation Massey University Email: T.G.Harvey@massey.ac.nz

In New Zealand: Administrative contact

Name: Mr Don Brown Telephone: 00 64 6 350 5799 Extn

81338

Position: Director Fax: 00 64 6 801 2682

Organisation Research Management

In Vietnam

Name: MSc Nguyen Quoc

Toan

Telephone: 084-946651244

Position: Project Coordinator Fax: 084-343881404

Organisation BCFRC Email: toanhoangq@yahoo.com

2 Project Abstract

Executive Summary

The project started in March 2007 with the conception visit to the project site Between 2007 and 2010 there were eight project visits, and six special training events were undertaken in New Zealand, Thailand, Australia and Vietnam (Bavi BCFRC-2 events)

The project has introduced new tropical pasture species from Thailand that were very effective in improving nutrient levels and increasing protein availability The introduction of bi-product silage to the nutrient mix was very effective, especially the introduction of cassava leaf silage The beef cattle genetic base in the region is very low and the project has introduced Sindi village bulls, to improve long-term potential

Training of ToT’s and farmers has focused on nutrient balancing and improvement,

as well as silage technology and genetic improvement A full 70 page Technical Report has been developed by the team This report covers all the project technical development and should be read in conjunction with this final report

3 Introduction & Background

Implementation Highlights

1 The success of the new pasture species (Ubon paspalum and Mulato II

Brachiaria hybrid) The species performed well and significantly improved total feed and feed quality for beef cattle, and were well accepted

2 The village bull programme is being well used; and the offspring are showing higher growth rates than local cattle,

The Beef Cattle Development Plan for 2010 (No1155/QD-UB Nghe An) was introduced in May 2003 The plan set objectives to increase beef production, use crossbreeding to introduce new breeds and improve rural incomes The traditional

VN beef industry is based on very small household farmlets, grazing waste land; this model has proved unsustainable This project is developing a sustainable, economic village based beef farming model to improve long-term meat supply, and improve incomes This project is implementing and evaluating the village based beef farming system in the Nghe An Region and three rural villages, which have below average household income levels (Nghia Lam, Nghia Son and Nghia Yen) The project has introduced new tropical pasture species from Thailand that are proving very effective in improving nutrient levels and increasing protein availability The introduction of bi-product silage to the nutrient mix is also proving very effective, especially the introduction of cassava leaf silage The beef cattle genetic base in the region is very low and the project has introduced Sindi, Brahman and Droughtmaster to improve long-term potential

3 The contribution and enthusiasm of the key farmers acting as a model and made a significant contribution to farmer training

Summary of Key Technology Improvements

The project has identified and demonstrated a number of technologies that have the potential to increase beef production in Nghe An Province significantly

In the high fertility soils, forage grasses have production; Napier grass between

50-80 tons DM/ha; Mulatto II and Paspalum between 25-40 tons DM/ha The higher quantity of Napier grass is offset by lower feed quality value This level of bio-mass production can support 6-10 cattle/ha; where the small holder continues to have a mixture of crops and animal husbandry production

The availability of maize, sugarcane and cassava bi-product is high in most villages and there bi-product have been under utilised in the past The conservation of Napier grass, maize and cassava leaf by using silage technology is possible in all villages and can improve the winter nutrition and number of cattle supported over winter by 100% in most areas

Through the use of crossbreeding and new genetics for beef cattle, it is possible to increase the growth rates of cattle by 100% if supported by better nutrition The

status quo for beef production is not sustainable as common grazing land is reducing

by 10-20% per year in many areas Beef production must become more specialised and intensive to provide good profit and family incomes There is potential for larger 20-50 beef cattle fattening units to be established in the region (See Technical Report Sect II for full Intervention Report

¾ Training has increased farmers understanding of nutrient balancing; feed budgeting, ensiling of bi-products and new pasture management (See Technical Report Section 7)

Traditional farmers can made a small profit from beef production in Nghia Dan district

as long as they value their labour at a very low cost and have local cattle that do not require a high nutrient diet

Modelling Benefits

Farmers can increase their income from beef production by introducing new technologies and new breeds of cattle Some of the costs of the new system are higher and some land (0.1ha/cow) needs to be utilised for pasture The model also assumes that bi-product like Cassava leaf and stem are readily available at a very low cost

From a 5 cow and 4 calf model the modern beef farmer household income from beef was estimated at VD 5,278,167 (a 94% increase on the traditional model) and after labour is accounted for, the net profit is estimated at VD 4,548,167 (a 771% increase

on the traditional model)

The analysis shows an increased income and reduced labour costs, resulting in a significant improvement in net profit

Estimation Uptake Cost benefit with farmers taking up new technologies

Potential for Increased Production and Improved Profitably

Estimating the cost of feed and the effect on profit is extremely difficult as farmers do not value their time or most of the forages (including grain meal) which is home grown One guide is the difference in the value of corn meal (kg & ME) compared to the cost of bi-product or pasture silage 230d/kgME vs 130d/kgME

In the 3 project villages there is an estimated 4270 hectares of horticultural land with 660ha maize grown, 413 hectares of cassava as a source of bi-product Very high yields of bio-mass were recorded from Napier grass and other tropical pasture The combinations of new pasture, and bi-product conservation provides small farmers (with 5,000m2 land) the ability to move from raising 2-3 cattle to 6-8 cattle with post-project nutrient levels 30-50% higher and growth rates 50-100% faster

Of the pasture species introduced project beef farmers generally reported that they found Ubon paspalum to have greater persistence and to be more acceptable to young animals Dairy farmers in Thai Hoa report better milk yields from Mulato II compared to Ubon paspalum, consistent with the higher protein content of Mulato II

Capacity Building

Training was undertaken in early February 2010 in Australia Two senior technicians from BCFRC and the 19th May Company accompanied with Mr Tim Harvey to visit several cattle breeding stations in Northeast of Brisbane This training was to ascertain the suitability of Brahman and Droughtmaster cattle and their ability to adapt to a tropical environment in Nghe An Province Both these breeds are available within Vietnam via frozen semen The visit also assessed a range of tropical pastures that maybe suitable for a cut and carry system or a grazing system for beef cattle in the project area There is the potential to import additional cattle via embryo, live importation or via frozen semen for cross breeding The possibilities of expanding the genetic base in the Nghe An Province

Final Workshop at BCFRC Bavi on 26 Feb 2010 attended Conference at BAVI (BCFRC); attended by 60 participants including representatives from Hanoi National Institute of Animal Science,

Final Workshop on 4 Mar 2010 for Nghe Dan District held at Nghia Son, attended by

65 people; local farmers, key project farmers, Nghia Dan Agriculture Service, BCFRC staff, 19 May Co

Seminar and visit to Vietnam Goat & Rabbit Research Centre (VGRRC) at SonTay

on breeding and discussion on their work in forages and nutrition (6 and 8 Mar 2010) H&T? International Ltd dairy develop Senior Vietnamese project staff (eg Mr Toan) trained by the project are now providing technical leadership to the H&T dairy development project

Publicity

¾ The project has been featured in the CARD newsletter

¾ The Nghia An Province Director of Animal Husbandry has visited the project site

¾ 3 village leaders have all attended training to increase the profile of the project

¾ The leader of Animal Husbandry in Nghia Dan district opened the workshop and

TV and newspaper coverage was obtained

Project Management

The 19th May Company and BCFRC provide a very good and strong base within Vietnam for the management of the project Mr Toan has a high level of management skills as well as English language His organisation and coordination ability was the key to the success of the project and its management Massey University has the base skill for final management and Governance of the project The only difficultly was management of the international fluctuation of currency when the project was exposed to the NZD, AUD, USD ad the Vietnam Dong

4 Report on Cross-Cutting Issues

Environment

The project continues to have a positive effect on the environment in a number of ways, including:

¾ An increase in the amount of animal manure being recycled back to crop land

¾ Improving the use of products and reducing the burning to waste of some products

bi-¾ Increasing cattle numbers as the amount of common grazing land reduces

Gender and Social Issues

¾ The number of women technicians and animal husbandry remains very low; this

is a Vietnam wide issue that will not be easily changed

¾ Approximately 33% of trainees at farmers workshops are women and they actively participate in the workshops

¾ Although the women took an active role in cattle management in the project villages , the men undertook the management of cattle handling

5 Implementation & Sustainability Issues

Issues and Constraints

Reliable seed supply. Farmers wanting to further develop new pastures say they are constrained by a lack of seed

Village bulls The current insemination fee is low and is imposing some costs on the farmers who are feeding and managing the bulls,

to generate income by the supply of forage; but this may also be a disincentive for beef production The discontinuation of lease holders from 19 May Co land and relocation of homes to make way for the dairy development has created village resentment towards the 19 May Co For this reason the final workshop was held in

the community hall rather than at the 19 May where earlier farmer training was based An impact of the dairy development is higher land rental costs and farmers having to travel further (20 to 30 km) to lease land for cash crops; reducing net profit and incomes

Intervention Options

Seed Supply The Thailand seed distributor is in the process of signing an agreement for a Vietnam distributor which should alleviate the seed supply constraint Transplanting of tillers is an option to increase area and some farmers were doing that, but it is time consuming and seed would be preferable

Village bulls The mating cost for use of village bulls will need to be evaluated and adjusted if needed to ensure an economic return to the farmers that are managing the bulls

Sustainability

Existing project farmers and project village farmers have with the input of the project developed a higher production sustainable beef enterprise The sustainability of the new approach to non-project villages in the District and Province is dependent on the strength of extension services Extension services and support in some parts of Nghia Dan district are low However, in some towns there are qualified and motivated technicians with good experience Expansion & uptake in the wider Nghe

An is dependent on ongoing support & strengthening Farmer association; increasing capability of local technicians

Risk factors are still high (including animal disease risks) and this will slow the speed

of development of beef production The market is poorly developed with high fluctuation in prices Due to high disease risk, farmers often sell animals early before they have reached full slaughter live weights There is little linkage between the processing factories in the south and the farmers with middle men (agents) setting the price

6 Next Critical Steps

CARD Office to complete evaluation visit

Distribution of Technical Report in Vietnamese to NgheAn and National key Institutes

eg BCFRC Bavi,

Call for development of Farmer Field School

List of trainee for Bavi Seed Production Course

STT Họ và Tên Đia chỉ

1 Lê Thanh Hà Sơn Đông-Nghĩa Sơn-Nghĩa Đàn-Nghệ An

2 Phạm Văn Lương Sơn Tây-Nghĩa Sơn-Nghĩa Đàn-Nghệ An

3 Nguyễn Văn Cát Sơn Tây-Nghĩa Sơn-Nghĩa Đàn-Nghệ An

4 Trịnh HảI Lý Khe Lau-Nghĩa Lâm-Nghĩa Đàn-Nghệ An

5 Trần Xuân Thuỷ Xóm 5-Nghĩa Yên-Nghĩa Đàn-Nghệ An

6 Ngô Trọng Tứ Xóm 5-Nghĩa Yên-Nghĩa Đàn-Nghệ An

7 Chu Đình Vấn Bắc Lâm-Nghĩa Lâm-Nghĩa Đàn-Nghệ An

8 Lương Văn Định Đội 10, Cty Rau Quả 19/5 Nghệ An

9 Hoàng Văn Tâm XN chăn nuôi Cty

10 Phan Tiến Hậu ĐộI 10, Cty

11 Lý Hồng Dương Phòng TC Cty

12 Trần Khánh Tuấn Vườn ươm Cty

13 Hoàng Thị Vân Anh Trạm KN TX Thái Hoà

14 Tạ Thị Phúc Xóm Nam lâm, Nghĩa lâm

15 Phan Tất LợI Đội 3 Cty

16 Nguyễn Xuân Hồng Đôi 5 Cty

17 Võ Quốc Hùng Sơn đông-NSơn

18 Đặng Kim Liên Đội 6 Cty

19 Nguyễn Xuân Thành Đội 7 Cty

20 Nguyễn Văn HảI Đôi Cam 1 Cty

21 Nguyễn Văn Quỳnh Đội 4 Cty

22 Ng Hải Thanh Đội 2 Cty

Figure 1 Trainee at BCFRC

Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development

Nghe An Province Sustainable Village Based Beef Cattle Development, Training and Extension

Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development

Nghe An Province Sustainable Village Based Beef Cattle Development, Training and Extension

Table of Contents

Project Team 5 

Senior Project Team 5 

Supporting Consultants 5 

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION 6 

SECTION 2: BARRIERS TO BEEF CATTLE DEVELOPMENT IN NGHIA DAN 9 

Introduction 9 

Summary of Key technology Improvements 15 

SECTION 3: EXTENSION ACTIVITIES 16 

Overview 16 

Trainers of Trainers (ToT’s): 17 

Key Competencies Transferred to ToT’s: 18 

Trainer of Farmers: 18 

Farmer Training: 19 

Main lessons from key farmers 24 

Impact of different training approaches 24 

Extension beyond the project 25 

Training Outcome: 25 

Conclusion: 26 

SECTION 4: PASTURES AND FEED -: SITUATION ANALYSIS, OPTIONS AND OUTCOMES 27 

Typical farm 27 

Seasonal feed supply 27 

Improved pasture 2007 27 

Legumes and Legume options 29 

Currently, legumes contribute a low proportion in cattle diets Usually crop residues of beans and peas and some wild legume herbs and shrubs are the only source of legumes 29 

Crop residues 30 

Fodder quality 30 

Opportunities and Future Options (2007) 31 

Alley Cropping 31 

Forage maize and sorghum 31 

Crop Bi-products and Residues 31 

Silage 32 

Urea supplementation 32 

Farmer options for silage storage 32 

Forage Herbs 33 

CONCLUSIONS 38 

SECTION 5: LIVEWEIGHT MONITORING 42 

Recording Programme – Systems 42 

Analysis of Liveweight (LWT) Data 43 

At the final visit the farmers were asked to evaluate the technologies and use of weigh bands, the conclusion was that for collection of data for project evaluation the weigh bands were relevant and effective However, for on-going use the weigh band had little relevance with only one farmer out of the nine farmers used the weigh band regularly to assess the LWT of cattle before sale 44 

Conclusion 44 

SECTION 7: FEED BUDGETING AND MANAGEMENT OF FEED FLOWS FOR INTENSIVE SMALL SCALE BEEF FARMERS 45 

Changes in Nutrition levels 2000 - 2008 47 

SECTION 8: ECONOMIC AND COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF BEEF PRODUCTION 48 

Introduction: 48 

Potential for Increased Production and Improved Profitably 53 

SECTION 9: SITUATION ANALYSIS FOR CATTLE IN NGHIA DAN DISTRICT: 55 

Development of a new Cattle Breeding Strategy for the District 57 

Use of a “Village Bull System” 59 

The Effects of Genetic Improvement 60 

SECTION 10: DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL SCALE ENSILING FOR INTENSIVE SMALLHOLDERS 62 

Introduction 62 

Opportunities to Develop the Beef Industry and Increase Nutrient Levels through Ensiling Bi-products 63 

Silage Technology 64 

WM Wet Matter

Yr Year

Pasture and Rural Development specialist

AgResearch Ltd, Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand

Email: phil.rolston@agresearch.co.nz

Dr Michael Hare

Tropical Pasture specialist

Faculty of Agriculture, Ubon Ratchathani University, Warin Chamrab, Ubon

Ratchathani, THAILAND 34190

Email: michaelhareubon@hotmail.com

Mr Nguyen Quoc Toan

Livestock and Tropical Forage specialist

Beef Cattle Farm Manager

Massey University Palmerston North New Zealand

Nguyen Duc Luu Ngo Trong Tu Trinh Haily Chu Dinh Van Pham Van Luong

Le Van Ha Nguyen Van Cat

Section 1: Introduction

Abstract

The Beef Cattle Development Plan for 2010 (No1155/QD-UB Nghe An) was introduced in May 2003 The plan set objectives to increase beef production, use crossbreeding to introduce new breeds and improve rural incomes The traditional

VN beef industry is based on very small household farmlets, grazing waste land; this model has proved unsustainable This project is developing a sustainable, economic village based beef farming model to improve long-term meat supply, and improve incomes This project is implementing and evaluating the village based beef farming system in the Nghe An Region and three rural villages, which have below average household income levels (Nghia Lam, Nghia Son and Nghia Yen)

be favourable for temperate forage crops such as oat/vetch mixes

Table 1 Annual climate data for Nghe An

Temperature maximum (May) 41.6 oC

Temperature minimum (December) 0.2 oC

Land Use

Land use in the area is mainly sugar cane, cassava, with smaller areas in coffee, rubber and orange plantations Small planting of elephant grass have been made The North Asia Development bank has started an extremely large dairy development project in the Nghia Dan district, managed by T&H company from Israel This is one

of the largest commercial dairy programmes in SE Asia with approx 16,000 cows been introduced This project will have some positive and negative effects on the district and local farmers The effect on the small beef farmers will be negative as the land area is reduced, with some farmers have been relocated This development highlights the need for continuing the project with advice and assistance for the small farmers and families in the project site

The project

The project started in March 2007 with a conception visit to the project site Between

2007 and 2010 there were 8 project visits being undertaken as well as 6 special training events undertaken in New Zealand, Thailand, Australia and 2 at Bavi

BCFRC

The project has introduced new tropical pasture species from Thailand that proved very effective in improving nutrient levels and increasing protein availability The introduction of bi-product silage to the nutrient mix was very effective, especially the introduction of cassava leaf silage The beef cattle genetic base in the region is very low and the project has introduced Sindhi, to improve long-term potential

Training of ToT’s and farmers has been undertaken focusing on nutrient balancing and improvement, as well as silage technology and genetic improvement

Section 2: Barriers to Beef Cattle Development in Nghia Dan

Introduction

The project team interviewed 23 farmers at the beginning of the project to assess the potential for beef cattle production in Nghia Dan district The team found 10 main barriers that were common across the majority of the small holder interviewed Listed below and the key barriers

Barriers to development and targeted interventions

1 lack of size of farmer land holdings

2 reduction in common grazing land

3 lack of genetic potential

4 lack of forage options

5 lack of high quality conserved feed over winter The project team over the last 12-months has addressed each of these barriers to development and found that modern technologies can overcome the majority of these

6 lack of capital

7 cattle ownership seen as a “family bank rather than a commercial enterprise

8 lack of extension infrastructure

9 lack of stable markets

10 risk of risk

Size of Farmers Land Holding

The size of farmers land holdings range from 2,500m2 – 30,000 m2 The majority of the land is required for horticulture, cash crops or production of forage Cattle were held for draught animals grazed and fed waste bi-product in dry form over the winter dry months The number of cattle was controlled by availability of grazing areas, labour and the availability of winter

forage and financial return

-Intervention

Through introduction of new pasture

species and understanding of nutrition,

the project has found that farmers with

land areas as small as 3,000 m2 can

effectively support 5-6 cattle as long as

they can access bi-product from other

farmers This is twice the traditional

number for a smallholder without access

to common grazing land

High Pasture Production

Reduction in Common Grazing Land:

Intensification of cropping and land use for forestry; large scale dairy production farm, and other uses is having a marked effect on the availability of land for common grazing Also the number of family units supported in the villages is increasing Where traditional farmers in the past had free access to large areas, the availability

is reducing and farmers have to rely more and more on cut and carry or growing specialised crops, for animal production

In one village a farmer cooperative had 120 buffalo that went out to graze the surplus common land This cooperative had to be disbanded in 2000 as available common grazing land decreased and was put into cropping and forestry

-Intervention

The introduction of new technologies,

involving, waste land development

new forage crops and silage has seen

farmers move to full cut and carry

operation

Wasteland Development Lack of Genetic Potential in Local Breeds of Beef Cattle:

A number of factors have controlled the availability and selection of the cattle genetic base used by farmers The main factor in the past has been the very low nutritional levels available over winter meaning only small body weight animals could survive the winter

-Intervention

There is now a wide range of new

genetics in Vietnam, i.e Brahman,

Droughtmaster, Simmental, Red

Angus and Sindhi The speed of

improvement in genetics needs to be

in-line with (1), the nutrient levels

available (2) the ability of the small

local female cattle to give birth to

larger calves (3) cows having the

ability to rear calves sired by new

breeds Genetic improvement

programmes are long-term ventures

The project has introduced Red Sindhi Caption Village Bull

bulls as Stage I Once Red Sindhi crossbred female replacements are mature, there will be the opportunity to introduce a third breed i.e Droughtmaster and Red Angus

A small three year project can only just start a genetic improvement programme and will require on-going support to be effective

Lack of Forage Options:

Traditional farmers had little knowledge of nutrient balancing or the need to provide stable high protein diets to cattle Rice straw and dry maize stover, corn powder and banana stem were the main diet of cattle over the winter

Green Feed Maize (3 x crops) 30,000 kg WM 35,000 kg DM/Yr

These new forage options are

revolutionising animal husbandry in

tropical areas The biggest area of

concern now is training farmers to

manage the forages and maximise

quality and utilisation over the wet

season and conserve feed for the dry

season; including understanding that

maximising yield does not provide a

quality diet for animals

New Pasture

Lack of High Quality Conserved Feed for Winter:

The traditional conservation method for forages and bi-product in the past has been drying rice straw, corn stover Hay

from wild grass has been the main

source of conserved forage The

quality of these feeds has been

extremely low, providing little more

than another high fibre sources

-Intervention

The project has introduced silage

technologies to the farmers The

uptake of this technology has been

varied; however, the best farmers

have seen tremendous benefits Silage Demonstration

The best combinations of silage are:

¾ Napier grass 70% cassava leaf 30%

¾ green maize stove 60% cassava leaf and top 40%

¾ sugar cane top 70% cassava leaf and top 30%

¾ Napier grass with additives

All four options increase nutrient levels of conserved feed well above any traditional methods These conservation options also reduce fibre and increase intake The cost of these options is all low (i.e 500-600 dong/kg DM)

Cattle Ownership:

Farmers approach to beef cattle production systems is very different to a western

“commercial” model Vietnamese farmers see cattle rearing as a “family bank” and a method of accumulating wealth for important events (e.g weddings and funerals) or for investment

Examples within the project to-date are:

¾ Sale of 60% cattle to build a new house

¾ Sale of 40% cattle to build a small shop

¾ Sale of 50% cattle to invest in a petrol station

¾ Sale of 50% cattle so son could get married

¾ Sale of 100% of cattle to set son up in a transport business due to ill health of father

-Intervention

Through training and increased

confidences, eight of the 9 key farmers

all want to continue with beef production

and increase the numbers of cattle over

time All have the confidence to

continue and there is strong support

from the Village leaders

Potential for Commercial Development

Lack of Extension Infrastructure:

There is a lack of qualified animal husbandry extension workers in the Nghia Dan District There is an office in Thai Hoa Township 20km away, however, this office can only service the township farmers and can provide little support to the project area There are farmer association leaders in each village, however, there focus is mainly on horticulture policy and there is little depth of understanding in animal husbandry

Village leaders are supportive of the project but are not qualified animal husbandry technicians

-Intervention

The best extension activity (at present)

is that provided by the key project

farmers and the project team members

There has not been a pool of extension

workers to become TOT’s This is the

biggest weakness of the project The

project has only trained four technicians

as ToTs (Mr Toan and Mr Ly & Mr

Dzoney and Mr Lu)

Farmers Training Farmers Lack of Stable Market:

The beef cattle market is poorly developed in the area with all farmers selling their cattle to a small local slaughter or middle man Very few cattle are reared to a full slaughter weight Most sales are at around 100-180kg In the project area there is

no farmers specialising in cattle fattening and growing cattle to high quality (full slaughter) liveweight

-Intervention

There is definitely opportunity to form

farmer cooperatives to improve supply

chain returns to the local farmers The

project is looking at the supply chain

and the possible formation of a farmer

cooperative for beef farmers

New Project Calf Disease Risk:

There is a high disease risk from mainly “foot & mouth” in the area Vaccination is undertaken by the district technicians, however, small isolated villages are sometimes missed, which destabilises the market

-Intervention

The project team lacked to expertise to

undertake a full needs analysis on

disease risk, however increase in nutrient

supply will help to reduce the risk

Other diseases which are likely to be an

issue are as follows:

Summary of Key Technology Improvements

The project has identified a number of technologies that have the potential to increase beef production in Nghe An Province significantly

In the high fertility soils, Napier grass production is between 50-80 tons DM/ha; Mulatto II between 25-40 tons DM/ha; and Paspalum between 25-40 tons DM/ha This level of bio-mass production can support 6-10 cattle/ha; where the small holder continues to have a mixture of horticulture and animal husbandry production

The availability of maize, sugarcane and cassava bi-product is high in most villages and these bi-product have been under utilised in the past The conservation of Napier grass, maize and cassava leaf by using silage technology is possible in all villages and can improve the winter nutrient and number of cattle supported over winter by 100% in most areas

Through the use of crossbreeding and new genetics for beef cattle, it is possible to increase the growth rates of cattle by 100% if supported by better nutrition The status quo for beef production is not sustainable as common grazing land is reducing

by 10-20% per year in many areas Beef production must become more specialised and intensive to provide good profit and family incomes There is potential for larger 20-50 beef cattle fattening units to be established in the region

Risk factors are still high and will slow the speed of development of beef production The market is poorly developed with high fluctuation in prices Due to high disease risk, farmers sell animals early before they have reached full slaughter live weights There is little linkage between the processing factories in the south and the farmers with middle men (agents) setting the price

Extension services and support in some parts of Nghia Dan district are low However, in some towns there are qualified and motivated technicians with good experience

Section 3: Extension Activities

Milestone 9 – Objectives 2 & 3

Competency Assessment & Monitoring & Evaluation

Overview

The Nghia Dan District is very large and the project area has little technical support for animal husbandry A new sub-district at Nghia Huong 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 was 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

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; ear tags for their cattle and weigh bands to record cattle live weights Five to six 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 Ruzi 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 using hybrid Napier grass (VA06) 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 He has taken responsibility in arranging farmer training

at Bavi

Mr Ly is the Senior Extension Officer in the Nghia Dan District Mr Ly is based in Thai Hoa Township (20 km from project villages) and has a team of six technicians responsible for all aspects of agriculture, with 2 on animal and forage extension in the District Ly and his team have worked mostly with non-project villages, introduced project technologies, pasture species 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 July 2007 to Jan 2008 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

Ly (Thai Hoa) New pastures 38 provided seed 18 continued after 2 years

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 They helped get farmers to training,

but had a small impact on directly training farmers

Technicians from the 19 th May Company Generally these technicians were at the

same level of practical skill of village farmers and they were not able to train farmers

Nghia 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 Technologies extended by farmers are discussed later (see page 40) 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 Nghia 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

Technic-Durati

on (hrs)

12/07/07 19 May Demo Phil Rolston

Pasture

19/07/07

Nghia

12/03/07

19 May

Harvey/Rolston

Beef Nut/Ensiling

Pasture Nursery

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

Table II: Project site workshop training in Nghia Dan District

Date Location Type Presenter Subject

No

Participants Farmers Technicians

Duration (hours)

19 May

Co W/S Tim Harvey

Tropical Pasture &

Farming Systems 30 25 5 4 19/06/08

19 May

Co W/S Rolston/Hare

Tropical Pasture &

Farming Systems 34 26 4 8 27/09/08 Thao Hoa W/S Tim Harvey Beef Production 26 14 12 6

03/03/09

Nghai

Lum W/S

Tim Harvey /Chesterfield Beef Production 22 18 4 4 04/03/09 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 04/03/10

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

Table 3 International & National Specialised Training Events:

Dats Location Type Presenter Subject

No

ParticipantsFarmers Technicians

Duration (hours)

training Intensive Michael Hare

Tropical Pasture &

Farming Systems 12 3 9 25 6-12/02/10

25/02/10 BCFRC W/S

Tim Harvey Phil Rolson Michael Hare Pasture, Nutrition 50 15 35 4 26/02/10 BCFRC W/S

Tim Harvey Phil Rolson Michael Hare

Final workshop, breeding, forages, nutrition balance 60 10 50 4

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

the number adopting the technology is summarized in Table 4

Table 4 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 (VA06) 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

paspalum ;

• Improved animal performance and income associated with reducing fibre in

diet;

Impact of different training approaches

The Nghia Som Farmer Association 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 BCFRC (Bavi) and Vietnam Goat & Rabbit Research Centre (SonTay)

The project has been a catalyst for interaction and extension of technologies with the

NZ team visiting Hue University 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

Tradimex Co A link was developed between Ubon Ratchathani University (Thailand) and Asia Tradimex Co of Hanoi for seed distribution of new forages in Vietnam The company had representatives at the final training at Nghia Dan and has become active in extension on forages for cattle

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

1 the introduction of new tropical species of pasture,

2 nutrient balancing (especially reduction in fibre intake) and

3 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

Conclusion:

The quantity and style of training has been very suitable especially the practical hands on and interactive style of the NZ team, resulting in good adoption rates of key technologies

The number of training events exceeded those set out in the logframe and covered a wider geographical area than was anticipated at the beginning of the project

3 That the New District continues to develop “key-farmers” as an extension methodology

Seasonal feed supply

Based on farmer interviews a typical feed supply curve was developed (Fig 3) The curve closely follows the temperature and rainfall curves (Fig 1 and 2) There is a period of surplus feed during May-September and often shortages during November-March

Grass growth curve