Card Project Progress Report: " A blueprint for sustainable smallholder pig production in Central Vietnam - Milestone 7 " doc

Institute Information Project Name A blueprint for sustainable small holder pig production in Central Vietnam Vietnamese Institution National Institute of Animal Husbandry NIAH; Hue Un

Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development

CARD Project Progress Report

004/05VIE

A blueprint for sustainable smallholder pig

production in Central Vietnam

(July 2007 – January 2008)

Table of contents

TITLE PAGE 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2

1 INSTITUTE INFORMATION 3

2 PROJECT ABSTRACT 4

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4

4 INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND 5

5 PROGRESS TO DATE 6

5.1 I MPLEMENTATION H IGHLIGHTS 6

5.3 S MALLHOLDER B ENEFITS 10

5.4 C APACITY B UILDING 10

5.5 P UBLICITY 10

5.6 P ROJECT M ANAGEMENT 10

6 REPORT ON CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES 10

6.1 E NVIRONMENT 10

N O ADDITIONS 10

6.2 G ENDER AND S OCIAL I SSUES 10

7 IMPLEMENTATION & SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES 10

7.1 I SSUES , C ONSTRAINTS AND O PTIONS 10

7.2 S USTAINABILITY 11

N O NEW ISSUES IDENTIFIED 11

8 NEXT CRITICAL STEPS 11

9 CONCLUSION 11

1 Institute Information

Project Name A blueprint for sustainable small holder pig production in Central

Vietnam

Vietnamese Institution National Institute of Animal Husbandry (NIAH); Hue University of

Agriculture and Forestry (HUAF); National Institute of Veterinary Research (NIVR)

Vietnamese Project Team

Leaders

Dr Ta Thi Bich Duyen (NIAH); Professor Nguyen Quang Linh

(HUAF); Dr Cu Huu Phu (NIVR)

Australian Organisation The University of Queensland/Victorian Department of Primary

Industry/South Australian Research and Development Institute

Australian Personnel Dr Darren Trott, Dr Ian Wilkie, Dr Colin Cargill, Dr Tony Fahy

Date commenced April 1st 2006

Completion date (original) April 2009

Completion date (revised) September 2009

Reporting period November 2006 – June 2007

Contact Officer(s)

In Australia: Team Leader

Name: Dr Darren Trott Telephone: 617 336 52985

Position: Senior Lecturer School of

Veterinary Science

Fax: 617 336 51355

Organisation School of Veterinary Science The

University of Qld

Email: d.trott@uq.edu.au

In Australia: Administrative contact

Name: Melissa Anderson Telephone: 61 7 33652651

Position: Manager Research Projects Office Fax: 61 7 33651188

Organisation School of Land and Food The

University of Qld

Email: m.anderson@uq.edu.au

In Vietnam

Name: Dr Do Ngoc Thuy Telephone: 84 4 8693932

Position: Senior Scientist Fax: 84 4 8694082

Organisation NIVR Email: dongocthuy73@yahoo.com

2 Project Abstract

Small holder farmers in Central Vietnam predominantly raise pig breeds such as Mong Cai, Mini pig, and SocHighland, which are well adapted to local conditions but have limited performance and economic efficiency Improving the genetics of local breeds by introduction of high performance Mong Cai lines for pure breeding and exotic breeding programmes will result in significant benefits for small holder farmers if it can be aligned with an integrated farrow-to-finish management plan (focusing on health, husbandry, housing and nutrition) to improve production parameters and limit health problems This holistic, continuous improvement plan (CIP) will be initiated by appropriately trained Vietnamese veterinary and animal scientists, under the direction of Australian experts Through a train the trainers approach, the CIP will be extended to veterinary extension workers, commercial piggery managers and selected small scale pig farmers for successful uptake

of knowledge and skills

This project began with six major objectives: 1 Train the trainers; 2 Select the farms; 3 Adopt best practice; 4 Introduce new breeding stock; 5 Monitor profitability; and 6 Sustain profitability During the third six months of the project, progress has been made towards Objectives 3, 4 and 5

In Thua Thien Hue province, the pure Mong Cai breeding stock has farrowed and the first piglets have been weaned and sold The average litter size was 7.6 pigs/gilt/sow and the average number of piglets weaned was 6.4 The current price of piglets at the time of sale was 47.000/kg, the average weight of piglets sold was 7 kg so the total benefit (minus input costs) was approximately 91.932.000 VND Some pigs recorded as stillborn may have been early neonatal death and it will

be interesting to now examine records from the next farrowing to determine if there are increases in litter size and number of piglets weaned Most piggery upgrades have occurred and new nestboxes, based on a design produced by trainee Vietnamese scientists, have been provided Problems with pig management are still prevalent, however, with the large majority of farmers not taking on board recommendations to provide more ventilation (lifting of blinds), better microclimates for both sow (18-25oC) and piglets (31-32oC) as well as to provide feed ad lib to dry sows The E coli vaccine

produced by NIVR has been provided to the pure Mong Cai breeding stock, but initial reports are that piglets from vaccinated dams are still developing diarrhoea Further laboratory investigation is

required to determine if this is vaccine failure, a different strain of E coli that is not contained

within the vaccine, or indeed (and most likely), another cause of pre-weaning diarrhoea

In Quang Tri province, the delay on the introduction of breeding stock caused by the outbreaks of FMD and PRRS meant that new breeding stock was not introduced in time for the project training visit in November 2007 However, new nestboxes were installed just in time to protect young piglets from a sudden snap of cold weather This one intervention resulted in immediate uptake by local farmers, as piglets without nest boxes suffered severe chilling with some mortality

This report culminates in a change in strategy for the remainder of the project A successful long term visit by veterinary science student, Ms Tarni Cooper resulted in large-scale improvements to the questionnaire database and the development of a short version of the questionnaire suitable for small farm audits as part of the continuous improvement model, or indeed for training purposes We have therefore timed future visits to occur on a half-yearly basis and increased the amount of time spent in the country at each visit Ms Tarni Cooper will be available between November and February each year to continue her work on the project, she will conduct an audit of each demonstration piggery each year to demonstrate continuous improvement timed with visits from Australian experts so she can continue her knowledge of smallholder pig husbandry and health

4 Introduction & Background

In response to the increased demand for pork, Vietnamese small holder farmers in the Central provinces have intensified their production system, while others have attempted to continue to produce pigs in older, poorly designed facilities As intensification has increased, so too have disease problems, particularly in the pre-weaning stage, so it is not surprising that enteric diseases cause very substantial losses in this age group While the diseases involved can usually be controlled by a combination of good management and strategic vaccination, the sub-optimal environment provided on many farms is also a major risk factor, especially in the farrowing and weaning areas Antibiotics, which add significantly to the cost of production, are used to overcome these deficiencies and their indiscriminate use is probably contributing to the current high level of multi-drug resistance in isolates from pigs in Vietnam Expansion of small holder pig production in Central Vietnam has the potential to improve the income generating capacity of poor families, but

is currently hampered by low profitability due to a combination of poor reproductive performance and growth rates, lack of husbandry and management skills, poor nutrition and disease problems Based on the experience drawn from our existing CARD project (001/04VIE), the problems faced

by small holder pork producers in Vietnam include:

• Lack of on-farm recording to allow effective herd management on a day-to-day basis

• Lack of written records on average daily gain, feed conversion efficiency and pigs marketed /sow/year to determine whole-herd productivity and profitability

• Failure to set and reach reproduction targets

• Poor ventilation and cooling systems which limit the feed intake of progeny and breeders

• Restrict feeding of all classes of stock from lactating sows through to finisher pigs

• Lack of written data to assist resolving herd health problems-particularly mortalities, age and cause of death

• Incorrect vaccination strategies for those diseases for which there are effective vaccines

• Lack of specialist veterinary and extension staff to instruct and advise farmers

• Lack of model demonstration farms in each province to train the trainers

To better understand the risk factors that are contributing to pig health problems, and limiting or reducing production, it is proposed to survey a large number of small holder farms in Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam and Binh Dinh Provinces Retrospective baseline data on production, health, housing, environment and income will be collected and deficiencies in husbandry and housing will be detected and assessed so that they can be prioritised A representative sample of small holder farms (defined as those with less than 10-15 sows) and small commercial farms (30 to

100 sows) in each province will be selected for the survey and audit process, which will be used to assess the standard of production and competency of farmers and facilities Prior to commencing the survey, Vietnamese scientists will be trained to visit farms and interview the farmer and his/her family and collect required data on production and facilities

Following the survey of selected farms in the three provinces, a workshop will be held at Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry to identify the key risk factors that are negatively influencing health and production A set of priorities will then be established for improving management, husbandry and housing on farms This will result in the development of suitable models for pig production incorporating modified and improved designs for housing, as well as husbandry and management techniques Once the full modules have been validated, a series of field days will be held in each district, with extension service personnel and local veterinarians as trainers Selected farmers will also be invited to participate in “train the trainer workshops” so that they can also participate in training other farmers through “farmer-to-farmer workshops” in each area The pig production farrow-to-sale training workshops will be tailored for the needs and production systems followed

Many of the poorer households use indigenous breeds of pig with the intention of crossing them with exotic breeds to improve growth and performance in the F1 progeny However, the local

breeds currently reared by small holder farmers perform very poorly Of the three major breeds pure Mong Cai have by far the best performance High performance pure Mong Cai have been bred in Bacgiang with an average litter size of 13-14 piglets (compared to 8-9 for the other indigenous breeds) and a growth rate of 350-400g per day (compared to only 200-250g for the other breeds) These results clearly show the robustness of the Mong Cai breed Introduction of high quality, high performance Mong Cai sows will provide the nucleus for a central coast pure Mong Cai breeding zone collective Pure Mong Cai gilts will be raised for downstream sale to other small holders for a crossbreeding program using exotic breeds of boar Hybrid vigour in F1 progeny will provide better growth rates than the currently used indigenous breeds, but will be more adaptable to local environmental conditions compared to exotic breeds of pig This program will also maintain the pure Mong Cai gene pool in the central coastal area

5 Progress to Date

1) Refinements to on-line database

(AUSAIDCARD) and password (pigproject) have been created for members of the CARD programme management committee to access and view the database (without the ability to modify records) at any time as it is being built or during the life of the project The website has been substantially improved by the combined efforts of Ms Tarni Cooper (UQ) and Mr Warren Ham (UQ), together with the assistance of Dr Do Ngoc Thuy (NIVR), Mr Ho Ngoc Phuong (HUAF) and

Mr Hoang Bien (NIVR) (translation and input on improving the design of the questions to obtain more thorough information) This includes:

a) Refinement of questions to obtain more accurate data on pigs produced, vaccination schedules etc

b) Creation of a shortened version of the survey form to be used as a brief audit system that can be completed on a regular basis during the lifetime of the project

3) Major training mission to Vietnam and farm audits by Australian team members (November 2007-February 2008).

a) Major training mission November 2007 by Dr Colin Cargill, Dr Tony Fahy and Mr Patrick Daniel (see Appendix 1: Colin Cargill November trip report):

The major aim of the visit was to review progress and to assist in the training of a core group of extension veterinarians and technicians in assessing and auditing piggeries for management (husbandry, nutrition, health) and housing (ventilation, temperature control, waste management) Unfortunately only 2 to 3 extension veterinarians and technicians were available for training in each commune or village (and did not show much aptitude or interest in learning new skills), and the concept of training and mentoring of local extension services appeared to be lost in translation This may have been due to a misunderstanding about the purpose of the training, or a cultural difference

in the approach to training The training and farm visits were also interrupted by flooding and 2 days were lost at the beginning of the trip

During the visit to Thua Thien Hue Province 10 project or demonstration farms were visited over 2 days Herd size ranged from 3 to 9 sows and the majority of farms had erected dry sow stalls Twenty farms had received creep boxes and although farmers like the creep boxes, only one has built his own extra box The cost of each box was between 400,000 and 500,000 VND (AUD$ 28 to 30), which seemed rather expensive Each project farm has also received 5 to 6 Mong Cai gilts, many of which are either pregnant or have farrowed The HUAFF Team originally recruited 27 farms, but 3 have dropped out since the project commenced

In Quang Tri Province, where the NIAH Team has recruited 30 farms, 10 farms were visited over 2 days None of the farms have been supplied with creep boxes and only a few have built dry sow stalls No gilts have been supplied as yet, due to an outbreak of FMD, but Mr Bien has undertaken

to have the demonstration farms in Quang Tri Province ready by January 2008

In summary common problems that were still identified on farm included:

much labour to raise and lower them and a simple roll up/roll down version was demonstrated by Mr Patrick Daniel

restricted diet and water was not available on a continuous basis

of pigs per sow per year and further improvements are required

medication/vaccination schedule for common problems is provided in the MS 5 report

available, most farmers, as well as the extension veterinarians, were not aware of either what the vaccines were for or how to use them Similarly; they had little knowledge of which medicine was appropriate for specific clinical signs and how to use them

The major conclusion from the attempted training mission was that it is far too premature to be instructing extension workers/etc in the types of skills required and that more investment needs to

be made in ensuring that the demonstration farms continue to be profitable and that this is well-documented For this reason, a shortened version of the questionnaire is required so an accurate farm audit can be made at each visit

b) Farm audit/survey questionnaire development December 2007/January 2008 The introduction of

Ms Tarni Cooper to the project team has resulted in significant developments Ms Tarni (who had just completed her second year of a veterinary science degree at The University of Queensland) was given the opportunity to stay in Vietnam and working with Vietnamese colleagues for a total of eight weeks on the project (December 2007 to end of January 2008) Ms Tarni has a strong interest

in full time development work when she graduates as a veterinarian at the end of 2010 and the opportunity to live and work in Vietnam on a subsistence basis provided her with the necessary experience to attain this goal Through her work with Vietnamese trainee scientists (Mr Phuong from HUAF and Mr Bien from NIAH) and careful attention to detail, we were thus able to break the perpetual cycle of brief farm visits by Australian experts, pointing out the same problems that were not being addressed between visits Ms Tarni was also committed to “road-testing” the electronic survey format, something that had not been addressed in previous site visits by Australian scientists (ie it had only been used at the commencement of the survey to obtain data on a large number of smallholder farms, no doubt due to the time factor of short project visits of 2-3 weeks and the need

to demonstrate as much “hands-on practical information as possible” during the farm visits) The additional advantage was that Ms Tarni and Mr Phuong were able to visit the selected farms by motorbike, thus they were a lot more mobile and covered a good deal of territory Ms Tarni was given the following aims for her visit:

1 Review data on online questionnaire database and check for inputting errors from original paper copies stored in the HUAF and NIAH

2 Travel to each selected farm (24 in TTH, 30 in QT)

- Carry out audits with the previously used questionnaire and make any adaptations necessary

- Take digital photographs and upload onto online database

- Create diagram of shed floor plan and upload onto online database

3 Observe local veterinary practices and report back to the Project staff

4 Personal development:

- Become better equipped with the skills to work cross-culturally, in developing countries

- Learn more about pig disease, housing, nutrition and breeding in the smallholder situation

- Learn about aspects of the Vietnamese culture, including the language and social mores

A complete report of her trip is attached (See Appendix 2:Tarni Cooper Trip Report) However, major accomplishments included development of a shortened version of the questionnaire for auditing purposes, adjustments to questions such as schooling system and most importantly, an opportunity to review progress on the farms from her first visit to Vietnam The level of trust and support developed between the Vietnamese scientific teams and Ms Tarni was an extremely valuable asset for the project Ms Tarni was able to review the introduction of the first nest boxes onto the Quang Tri demonstration farms – these were introduced just at the right time of year as it was an unusually cold winter in Central Vietnam and those farmers that were using creep boxes did not suffer any pre-weaning mortality This was the single biggest impetus for other farmers to make and introduce their own nestboxes The audit performed by Ms Tarni on each of the demonstration smallholder units in each province will form the basis for future benchmarking/auditing assessments These can be viewed at any time on-line by the project management team

4) Introduction of major milestone reports for each participating Vietnamese institute In

order to keep progress in line with cash flow, the requirement for milestone reports from the Vietnamese stakeholders was introduced (See Appendix 3: Performance criteria for payment) A milestone report from Prof Linh (HUAF) for the period is attached (see Appendix 4: HUAF report

farmers in Thua Thien Hue, including two days of theory (taught by Prof Linh, Dr Duyet, and Dr Toan) covering pig housing and nutrition, pig breeding and nutrition and disease control and prevention (prior to the November project visit) Three Mong Cai sow deaths were reported during the period (down from 15 in the previous period), one death may have been infectious due to haemorrhagic septicaemia, the other two were due to unknown causes Creep boxes based on a prototype developed in consultation were introduced to selected farms (one free creep box each) Whilst expensive to make, the creep boxes were a tremendous success, especially over the cool winter months Sharp declines in ambient temperature and resultant stress and chilling of piglets that were not provided with creep boxes, provided dramatic evidence of their effectiveness and were quickly taken up by the other farmers Detailed reports on reproductive performance of the Mong Cai gilts are also provided Overall, if the results are accurate, they are very encouraging at this stage of the project, with 83 litters born (out of a possible 99), 634 piglets in total (549 liveborn though the stillbirths may also include early neonatal mortality) and 533 weaned The current price

of piglets is 47.000/kg, the average weight of piglet sold was 7 kg so the total benefit (minus input costs) is about 91.932.000 VND This is an average per gilt/sow of 7.6 total piglets born, 6.6 liveborn (ie one piglet either stillborn or I suspect from the notes provided, may be mortality at <24 hours) and 6.4 weaned It is crucial that this data be combined with fertility data (ie interval between litters) to obtain an idea of the number of pigs born per sow per year With better (ie ad lib) dry sow feeding and greater emphasis on pig and sow microclimates, these figures may improve greatly

An important point to raise was that according to assessment by the Vietnamese scientists:

“Observations have showed that the E coli vaccine does not provide 100% cover against E coli

and some offspring of mothers given the vaccine contracted WD.” This needs to be carefully investigated (as noted and suggested in Dr Cargill’s report) during the remainder of the project in terms of the age group of piglets, the type of diarrhoea (coccidiosis also causes creamy coloured

diarrhoea/steatorrhoea and the demeanor of the piglets, other diseases such has Clostridium

perfringens, rotavirus and transmissible gastroenteritis have also been diagnosed in Vietnam as part

of a second CARDthe problem is diagnosed as neonatal colibacillosis due to E coli, then the

fimbriae and toxins of the strain need to be characterised to determine whether it is a case of vaccine failure against predominate strains carrying F4, F5 or the new fimbrial type expressed by O8 strains (all present in the multivalent vaccine), or whether it is a case of diarrhoea due to F6 fimbriated strains which have not been encorporated into the vaccine and to date, have not been

reported in Vietnam The vaccine has already been safety and efficacy tested as part of another CARD project

During the reporting period, Dr Phu from NIVR sent the following update:

“We provided 300 doses of E coli vaccine against scouring in piglets, in which 150 doses to NIAH

to use in Quang Tri and 150 doses to HUAF to use in Hue, enclosing instruction of usage NIVR staff also participated in teaching pig farmers how to prevent and treat diseases in pigs

During the visit, Mr Huyen and Mr Tuan took seven faecal samples from scouring piglets The results as follows: Two samples were obtained from Mr Trang’s farm (2 litters of weaners got serious diarrhoea for several days prior to inspection before we came and some showed signs of oedema disease; these pigs all died the next day after the NIVR team left) Both pigs were positive

for haemolytic E coli, which is known to cause both diarrhoea and oedema disease (Dr Thuy has

completed PCR to determine virulence factors, which will be reported in a separate CARD project) The other two (from Mrs Tram’s farm) and three (from Mr Hung’s farm) were positive for

NHEC.” At the time of this visit it should be noted that none of the farms were vaccinating for E

coli

Dr Duyen only took over the project from Dr Coi in July 2007 and was immediately faced with the problem of outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease and “Blue Ear Disease” (post likely to be Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome with possible secondary bacterial pneumonia with

Streptococcus suis or other members of the Porcine Respiratory Disease Complex) in Quang Tri

province during 2007, which delayed the introduction of pure Mong Cai breeding stock into the selected farms Nevertheless, updates on progress were received during the reporting period as follows:

1) Survey:

In November 2006, a survey on farms had been carried out with more than 250 house holders in Hai Phu and Hai Thuong commune - Hai Lang district, Vinh Trung and Vinh Chap commune - Vinh Linh districts, Quang Tri province

The second survey had been carried out in March of 2007 with 50 house holds in Hai Phu and Hai Thuogn commune – Hai Lang district, Quang Tri province

After 2 surveys, 30 house holds had been chosen to participate our project

Please see attached file (Appendix 4: Farm-data-sheets)

2) Training:

To give the farmers new technology knowledge for rearing Mong Cai pigs, before bringing Mong Cai gilts in to Quang tri, a training course on technologies for rearing Mong Cai pigs had been organized in Quang Tri province from 2 to 10 of June, 2007

Summary of contents was as follows:

TECHNOLOGY OF MONG CAI PIG PRODUCTION

Section 1: Characteristics, breeding and selection methods of Mong Cai pig

Section 2: Feeds, Technologies on processing and storage of feed

Section 3: Technology for rearing Mong Cai gilt

Section 4: Technology for rearing Mong Cai boars

Section 5: Determining heated sows and mating

Section 6: Technology for rearing progenant sows

Section 7: Technology for rearing farrowed sows and piglets

Section 8: Technology for rearing farrowed sows and suckling

Section 9: Technology for rearing piglets pre and post weaning

Section 10: Technology for rearing farrowed sows and piglets

Section 11: Technology for rearing fattened pigs

Section 12: Methods on recording and caculating economical efficiency in Mong Cai pig production

Section 13 Vet In Mong Cai pig production

- Preventive hygiene

- Technology for injecting some pig diseases

- Attention to use vaccine

- Technology for determining diseased pigs

- Some regular diseases and Vet Technologies in pig production

- Technology for helping and look after the sows when they get problems at farrowing

3 Input of data into questionnaire through web site:

As last letter I told you the internet line in our office is not good, it always out of line We brought the data set went to NIVR to ask Ms.Thuy helping us, but there are still problems that is: we came

in the web site with password you gave, typed all the data but it was not accepted at the end I think Ms.Thuy told you about this problems, can you try and tell how to do

4 Transporting Mong Cai gilts to Quang Tri: The FMD and PRRS disease is now controlled in

Quang Tri, and we are now beginning to buy a new MC gilt herd and will bring in to Quang tri next month (October), the price/each kg of gilt is 47.000 VND equal 3.5 AU$/kg (increased 0.5 AU$/kg)

In this time period, selected smallholder farmers have been the direct recipients of the following:

• Design, implementation, building and receipt of creep boxes (1 per farmer) with immediate success noted in both Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue provinces

• Further training on the care and management of Mong Cai from each institute, on farm advice, assistance and investigation of problems and during the farm visits

• Development of a on-line short audit form of the questionnaire to provide a means of verifying the success of the continuous improvement model on demonstration piggeries

• Provision of free, locally produced E coli vaccines for prevention of neonatal colibacillosis

The project has provided dataloggers, laser thermometers and post mortem kits to assist with obtaining data/investigating causes of illness and mortality It does not appear that dataloggers are being left at any of the demonstration piggeries to obtain environmental recordings, due to fears that they may not be returned?

5.5 Publicity

An article was submitted for the CARD newsletter (written by A/Prof Darren Trott and Ms Tarni Cooper-Appendix 5)

No change in project team, apart from the addition of Ms Tarni Cooper to the Australian team

6 Report on Cross-Cutting Issues

7 Implementation & Sustainability Issues

Issue 1: Slow (but sustained) progress in line with milestones set by CARD