TRAVEL REPORT: Dr Darren Trott CENTRAL VIETNAM –24 th October – 8 th November 2009 CARD Project 424 7155 01 004/05VIE A blueprint for sustainable small holder pig production in Centr
Trang 1TRAVEL REPORT: Dr Darren Trott
CENTRAL VIETNAM –24 th October – 8 th November 2009
CARD Project (424 7155 01 004/05VIE)
A blueprint for sustainable small holder pig production in Central Vietnam
Participating Agencies:
Vietnam:
National Institution of Animal Husbandry (NIAH) – Dept of Small Livestock Research
Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry (HUAF) – Faculty of Animal Sciences National Institute of Veterinary Research (NIVR) – Dept of Bacteriology
Department of Agricultural and Rural Development of Quang Tri Province
Vietnamese farmer Association – Thua Thien Hue
Australia:
The University of Queensland – School of Veterinary Science
South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI)
Department of Primary Industries Victoria – Pig Health and Research Unit
Report Date – February 2009
OBJECTIVES
1 To travel Ha Noi:
a to visit NIVR to meet with Dr Phu, Dr Thuy and Mr Tuan to finalise project reports
b To discuss project implementation with NIAH staff and provide instruction to Ms Cam (NIAH young research scientist) on writing prescriptions for administration
of pig medications
2 To travel to Hue and Quang Tri Vietnam:
a to review progress of project;
b to meet with Professor Linh and his team to discuss project implementation and tour;
c to visit the most successful farms visit farms in two provinces in Central Vietnam – Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue;
d to assist in the training of Commune Extension Veterinarians in doing farm
Trang 2EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND REVIEW OF PROGRESS
Vietnam Day 1: A meeting took place at the CARD office with Dr Duyen, Dr Thuy, Mr Hue and
Mr Keith Major items of discussion included steps to register the NIVR E coli vaccine, farmer
to farmer training initiatives, establishment of the farmer clubs, the need for sound advice on the use of medications, evaluation of farmers’ impressions on the project strengths and weaknesses and the creation of training manuals
Out of this meeting the nucleus of the idea of a training DVD developed to cover many of these aspects using a medium that was easily identifiable (ie the demonstration farmers are active participants in the design and delivery) following discussions and advice from Dr Elske van de Fluyt
Vietnam Day 2: Meeting with Dr Cuong, Dr Duyen and the NIAH project team to discuss
finalisation of the project, plans for the 2-day field trip in Quang Tri and the creation of small project research proposals for young scientists Dr Cuong provided advice on the registration of the vaccine
Vietnam Day 3: Meeting with Mr Nguyen Ngoc Phuc who runs a research piggery near Hanoi
He currently uses Pfizer Littergard at a cost of 0.70¢ US per dose at 9 and 12 weeks of gestation
He also reported that diarrhoea and oedema disease were important diseases increasing in spring
He would be very amenable to conducting a field trial with the NIVR vaccine Return to NIAH for a 2-hour training tutorial with Dr Cam and Mr Bien on prudent and appropriate antimicrobial drug prescription Ms Cam was given a copy of the IVS Veterinary Drug Handbook (2009 version)
Vietnam Days 4-5: Work with Dr Thuy from NIVR on project reports
Vietnam Day 6: Travel to Hue for combined meeting with Prof Linh, Dr Duyen and Dr Thuy Vietnam Day 7: Thua Thien Hue-visit the farm of Mrs Tuyet and discussions with commune vets Phan Do and Tran Hoa and project farmers The tutorial on usage of antimicrobials was
continued Mr Do then administered Dectomax to a pig with mange and Mrs Tuyet was advised
to treat all in contact stock Mrs Tuyet was also given some Baycox to give to her new litters as a preventative medication The commune veterinarians reported that diarrhoea of piglets in the first week, oedema disease and respiratory infections were the biggest disease problems apart from the recent PRRS outbreak Diarrhoea is currently treated with enrofloxacin as an oral medication when it can be prevented using the NIVR ETEC vaccine (most diarrhoea in the first week is caused by ETEC)
Mrs Tuyet’s farm was extremely clean and hygienic She was not using heated creep boxes at the time as she said the weather was warm, but we advised her to let the piglets decide whether they were cold or warm She would like to insulate the roof as her next project and would be the ideal
Trang 3In the afternoon we visited Mr Lap’s farm in Thuy Phuong commune He currently has a very successful integrated farming enterprise with an aquaculture system supporting 5 species of fish
Mr Nhan the commune veterinarian identified pre-weaning diarrhoea at 5-7 days and the 3rd week
of life as the major diseases in the commune along with grower pigs with Glassers Disease/Strep suis The third farm belonging to Nguyen Tan Phuong was almost semi commercial and a good indication of how a smallholder can make the transition to commercial operation The farm was visited late in the day, however the project team noted diarrhoea in a pen of three week old suckers A diagnosis of ETEC infection was made on the appearance of watery diarrhoea and dehydration and Lincospectin was chosen as the most appropriate medication The following day
it was reported that the pigs had improved significantly, but one severely dehydrated piglet had died as there were no electrolytes or stomach tubes on hand (a note for future visits)
Vietnam Day 8: Planning meeting at HUAF: The remainder of the project visits and requirements were mapped out by representatives from each group Points to highlight included:
1) The need to continue the use of NIVR vaccine on all demonstration farms (Dr Thuy amd
Mr Tuan had bought a large number of doses with her) and the need to monitor its success in terms of reduced diarrhoea in the first week of life on test farms vs control farms
Outcome: Whilst this was initiated from November until January, the implementation of
the DVD made it difficult to obtain all data from all farms, thus it has been identified as a small research project for a HUAF young researcher
2) The transfer of technology from NIVR to HUAF for investigation of enteric diseases
Outcome: Dr Thuy undertook this training initiative and enteric diseases are now being
monitored at HUAF and will be part of the ongoing young researcher project
3) The identification of the farmer clubs as the major initiative to focus remaining efforts and the critical role of commune veterinarians who had now been identified and were actively engaged in supporting the project
Outcome: The development of the training DVD
4) The key requirement of completing the electronic surveys for demonstration farms (one survey on commencement, one mid-term survey, one final survey, as well as complete a matching control survey under the following selection criteria (surveyed in 2006, close to
a test farm ie in the same commune and an equivalent number of sows on the first audit)
Outcome: Surveys are ongoing with the instructions that all work must by concluded by
the end of March 2010
5) Plans for Tarni’s visit in December 2009 to begin the groundwork for the training
initiatives planned for early 2010
Outcome: Creation of the training DVD as the major vehicle for farmer to farmer
training
6) Development of small research proposal application process for young scientists to continue research ($4,000) and up to $1000 project initiative funds for smallholder farmers to complete upgrades on their farms in order to become demonstration units
Outcome: Enough funds were left over to fund two projects and 6 farms per province
with a further $4,000 contributed by Dr Trott from his University of Adelaide start up funds so that a third research project was possible
Vietnam Day 9: Travel to Quang Tri to meet with the farmer clubs The first farm visited was
Trang 4diarrhoea and oedema disease, mange and lungworm (Metastrongylus) Lungworm has not
previously been reported but is obviously a problem of breeding sows that can be treated using
the same drug (Dectomax) for mange This provided another opportunity to “spruik” the NIVR E
coli vaccine in order to obtain field data on efficacy
The farm visit was tremendously encouraging to see the improvements that have been made in Quang Tri from the mid-project visit Four pregnant gilts were well in to the 3rd trimester and seemed healthy One old dry sow had quite severe mange and had been treated with ivermectin
10 days previously We highlighted the importance of treatment of all animals in the shed at the same time using Dectomax and then repeating but suggested that the farmer should wait until the litters were born to prevent stress Replacement gilts were in good health The pen of weaners were coughing and were treated with a single dose of tulathromycin
We then visited the farm of Le Dinh Danh, the leader of the farmer club in Phu kong and once again, the local commune vets and farmers joined in the discussions on medications and pig diseases The veterinarians listed pre and postweaning diarrhoea as the main problems and one vet asked about liver flukes as he has seen them often in post-mortems (the subject of several research studies due to zoonotic potential in integrated systems with aquaculture-consumption of fish) We were impressed by the high level of knowledge regarding individual pig diseases as well as the creep design, biogas system and overall farm management Two piglets had a typical coccidiosis scour and were treated with Baycox and Mr Danh informed me that he had been using Baycox until relatively recently (he learnt about the product from the library of written material and agricultural journals sponsored by the farmer club), when the drop in pig prices meant that it was no longer cost effective (he gratefully received another bottle supplied by the project) Vietnam Day 10: The farmer club anniversary celebration was a tremendous success Following official speeches, the farmers competed in a contest with one another by answering questions covering different aspects of Mong Cai production Mr Danh’s table of Phu Kong farmers were judged to be the winners Prizes were awarded and farmers received small project grants to cover the damages to infrastructure caused by the recent typhoon
Vietnam Day 11: The team returned to Hue for a final meeting with Prof Linh before flying back
to Hanoi for the project conclusion dinner with NIVR and NIAH staff and including Dr Coi, former AUSAID CARD project leader who now heads up the Hai Phuong Pig Research Institute
Trang 5A blueprint for sustainable small holder pig production in Central Vietnam
AUSAIDCARD Project (424 7155 01 004/05VIE)
TRAVEL REPORT: Miss Tarni Cooper
LOCATION: Central Vietnam– Thua Thien Hue and Quang Tri
TIME: 2 nd December 2009 to 21 st December 2009
Participating Agencies:
Vietnam:
National Institution of Animal Husbandry (NIAH) – Dept of Small Livestock Research
Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry (HUAF) – Faculty of Animal Sciences
National Institute of Veterinary Research (NIVR) – Dept of Bacteriology
Department of Agricultural and Rural Development of Quang Tri Province
Vietnamese farmer Association – Thua Thien Hue
Australia:
The University of Queensland – School of Veterinary Science
South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI)
Department of Primary Industries Victoria – Pig Health and Research Unit
OBJECTIVES
1 Assist in establishing a farmer club in each commune in TTHue
2 Support all farmer clubs, in Quang Tri and TTHue through facilitation farmer club meetings
3 Assist farmer clubs to produce storyboard plans for filming of farmer-farmer training DVD
4 Meet with all team staff to finalise plan for DVD preparation and filming
5 Offer support for the teams conducting the final farm audits and uploading data onto the online database
Trang 6PRINCIPAL CONTACTS
Professor Nguyen Quang
Linh
Dean – Faculty of Fisheries Hue University of Agriculture
and Forestry
Dr Hoang Nghia Duyet Lecturer – Faculty of Animal
Husbandry and Veterinary Science
Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry
Mr Ngo Huu Toan Lecturer – Faculty of Fisheries Hue University of Agriculture
and Forestry
Ms Ha Thi Hue Secretary – Faculty of Fisheries Hue University of Agriculture
and Forestry
Ms Nguyen Thi Thanh (B) Lecturer – Faculty of Animal
Husbandry and Veterinary Science
Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry
Mr Phan Quang Trung Lecturer – Faculty of Animal
Husbandry and Veterinary Science
Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry
Dr Ta Thi Bich Duyen Vice Head Department Small
Livestock Research
National Institute of Animal Husbandry
Mr Hoang Bien Department of Small Livestock
Research
National Institution of Animal Husbandry
Mrs Hanh Department of Small Livestock
Research
National Institution of Animal Husbandry
Ms Cam Department of Small Livestock
Research
National Institution of Animal Husbandry
Ms Hoang Department of Small Livestock
Research
National Institution of Animal Husbandry
Mr Au Tuan Department of Bacteriology National Institute of Veterinary
Research
Mr Hieu Vice Director Department Agriculture Quang
Tri Province
Mr Anh Extension Officer Department Agriculture Quang
Tri Province
Mr Dao Van Hop Chairman Hai Lang Commune, Quang Tri
Province Associate Professor Nguyen
Van Dong
Head – Department of Small Livestock Research
National Institute of Animal Husbandry
Associate Professor Cu Huu
Phu
Head – Department of Bacteriology
National Institute of Veterinary Research
Dr Thuy Department of Bacteriology National Institute of Veterinary
Research
Mr Nguyen Huyen Department of Bacteriology National Institute of Veterinary
Research
Mr Nguyen Ngoc Phuc Vice-Director – Thuy Phuong Pig
Research Centre
National Institute of Animal Husbandry
Mrs Pham Kim Dung Director of Research – Thuy
Phuong Pig Research Centre
National Institute of Animal Husbandry
Trang 7ITINERARY
02/12/2009 Wed Bris-Hanoi Depart Bris 650hrs, Arrive Ha Noi 2000hrs (via Sydney and
HCM)
3 Thu NIAH 0900hrs breakfast with Mr Bien and travel to NIAH
Discussions with NIAH staff (5members) regarding farmer clubs, farmer-farmer training, film creation, dvd chapter topics and storyboarding process Planning
4 Fri NIAH Staff meeting regarding changes to itinerary
Staff training session regarding final survey of control and selected farms and data entry, for continuity
5 Sat Ha Noi Lunch with Thuy, discuss plans for farmer clubs and resource
creation
Transit
Morning with Dr Duyen‟s family Travel to Quang Tri by Train with Dr Duyen, Mr Bian and Ms Hanh
7 Mon Quang Tri AM: Meet with farmer club 1 to introduce idea of
farmer-farmer training and storyboarding then conduct storyboarding process
PM: Travel to each farm suggested by club, to further discuss their involvement in the DVD and film farm snapshots
9 Wed Quang Tri As above
10 Thu Quang Tri
Transit
Tour all farms to finalise ideas for DVD (Plan shooting of 4 chapters)
11 Fri HUAF AM: Tarni and Dr Duyen brief Prof Linh and students about
the plan for resource development and discuss Prof Linh‟s ideas, to finalise a plan for the week Tarni meet with HUAF staff in afternoon, to finalise plan
12 Sat HUAF Planning with Prof Linh, Dr Toan, Dr Duyet and Dr Hang,
research on participatory film
13 Sun Thuỷ Dương AM: Meet with farmer club of commune to introduce idea of
farmer-farmer training and storyboarding then conduct storyboarding process
PM: Travel to each farm suggested by club, to further discuss their involvement in the DVD and film snapshots
14 Mon Thuỷ Phương As above
15 Tue Bình Điền As above
16 Wed Quang Tho As above
17 Thu Hue city Review of notes from visits to QT and Hue, Formulate ideas
on structure of final DVD, Plan strategy for further farmer preparation in preparation for staff meetings
(Time for film-maker to compile footage from previous week)
18 Fri Hue, Ha Noi Watch footage from the TTHue visit and debrief with HUAF
staff Travel to Hanoi
Trang 819 Sat Hanoi Meeting with HUAF and NIAH staff to decide on structure of
DVD Discuss strategies for further training of each farmer club in the topic they will be responsible for and other preparations for January
Draft plan for January DVD filming and production
20 Sun Transit Fly Ha Noi to Singapore
21/12/2009 Mon Transit Fly Singapore to Brisbane (arr 0650hrs)
Debriefing meeting with Dr Darren
Trang 9EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
NIAH: QUANG TRI PROVINCE
Staffing
Ms Cam has two small children so is unable to join us in the field but works on data entry and was
involved in planning the December field trip to Quang Tri (QT), as was Ms Hoang The three NIAH staff who conducted the final audit and were involved in farmer club meetings in December were Dr Duyen, Mr Bien and Ms Hanh Dr Coi has moved to a different department
Farmer clubs
The three farmer clubs (across two communes), each with members from a single village, are now strongly established and recently celebrated their one year anniversary with a „pig trivia night,‟ which was filmed by
a local cameraman, in September last year
Each farmer club has a leader, a communal library and some communal medicines
Database
We spent one day in the NIAH office, looking over the Vietnamese and English versions of the farmer questionnaire, addressing areas of confusion and looking at what could be improved A major constraint is the lack of speed and reliability of the internet connection We decided the most feasible way to upload the final data would be for Vietnamese staff to upload all but the photos During my time with the Hue team, NIAH staff surveyed the project farms in QT and labelled photos with the farmer codes, on a computer At the end of my trip I was provided with these photos, to upload in Australia
A long term strategy, if this database is to be used in the future, may be to periodically send a disc with well-labelled photos (including farm codes) to Australia for upload to the corresponding form on the
database
HUAF: TTHUE PROVINCE
Staffing
Mr Ho Ngoc Phuong has gone to the Netherlands to do a Masters degree in Animal Science and has been replaced by Miss Thanh
Farmer clubs
No farmer clubs have been formed amongst project farms before now, though many farmers had attended the same training sessions of the course of the CARD project
The HUAF staff decided to have ten farms represented in each farmer club and for clubs to be constituted
of farmers from a single commune but several villages There were five communes involved in the project but due to continual disease outbreaks on many farms in the area, many farmers were unable to continue their involvement We were advised not to travel to Hương chữ during my trip, due to an active disease outbreak and the biosecurity risk it would pose This meant we only formed four farmer clubs in TTHue,
Further investigation of the reasons farmers withdrew from the project may allow us to assist farmers to
safeguard against some of these factors and recover from production losses
As a result of non-retention, there were only 2-3 trial farms in each farmer club and 7-8 control farms Each farmer knew more than one other person in the farmer club
Trang 10The challenges we faced in the TTHue farmer clubs were:
so well
The advantages of this situation were:
storyboarding and visiting farms together, compared to in Quang Tri, where farmers had a similar level
of knowledge In this way, TTHue farmer clubs „leap-frogged‟ the process, while QT farmers will begin training other farmers once the DVD is produced
what they would like to do in the future, on the film
the project
Database
I was informed that regular audits were done using the monthly survey and I reminded staff that this data needed to be put on the database I also offered to take photos to Australia, to upload after they had
uploaded the data No definite plan was made
PHASE ONE: STORYBOARDING
Storyboarding followed a protocol illustrated with photographs from the sessions in Appendix 1
Two cameramen were employed, one in each province We have decided to use the services of Mr Ky, from Hue, across both provinces during January, due to his good report with the farmers, making them feel comfortable with the camera, his empathy, flexibility, respect, honesty, patience, interest in the activities and appreciation for rural areas
After the storyboarding sessions were complete in all seven farmer clubs we had a general team meeting in Hanoi We reviewed the footage of our afternoons with the farmer clubs to gauge what we wanted for the January filming (see feedback in Appendix 2) We also ran through which clubs we believed should be responsible for teaching which topic on the DVD (See Appendix 3), determined by:
- Which topics the respective clubs chose to storyboard (they chose 2-3 and we told them one of these would be the one they would present in the DVD)
- Which storyboard each farmer club included the most farmers in (we wanted maximum
participation), as for some topics more farmers were keen to be involved
- Which topic the farmers seemed to have a good knowledge on and which lessons they could
demonstrate using their own farms
- Which topics the farmers had interesting insights into (eg, Quang Tho commune could talk abut floodwaters as an extra biosecurity risk in their geographical area and Binh Dien commune could talk about lack of feed resource availability in theirs)
I drafted a „Phase Two: Farmer Training & Preparation‟ methodology and associated list of ground-rules, which we discussed this at the meeting I agreed to make some amendments, according to staff feedback and email the final protocol (Appendix 4), for the staff to follow before I return in January for filming and DVD production