1 Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development CARD Project Progress Report 004/05VIE A blueprint for sustainable smallholder pig production in Central Vietnam Milestone 7 : 3 rd SIX-MONTHLY REPORT (July 2007 – January 2008) 2 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 IMPLEMENTATION HIGHLIGHTS 6 5.3 SMALLHOLDER BENEFITS 10 5.4 CAPACITY BUILDING 10 5.5 PUBLICITY 10 5.6 PROJECT MANAGEMENT 10 6. REPORT ON CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES 10 6.1 ENVIRONMENT 10 NO ADDITIONS 10 6.2 GENDER AND SOCIAL ISSUES 10 7. IMPLEMENTATION & SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES 10 7.1 ISSUES, CONSTRAINTS AND OPTIONS 10 7.2 SUSTAINABILITY 11 NO NEW ISSUES IDENTIFIED 11 8. NEXT CRITICAL STEPS 11 9. CONCLUSION 11 10. STATUTORY DECLARATION ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. 3 1. Institute Information Project Name A blueprint for sustainable small holder pig production in Central Vietnam Vietnamese Institution N ational Institute of Animal Husbandry (NIAH); Hue University o f 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 N ovember 2006 – June 2007 Contact Officer(s) In Australia: Team Leader Name: Dr Darren Trott Telephone: 617 336 52985 Position: Senior Lecturer School o f 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 4 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 3. Executive Summary 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 (18-25 o C) and piglets (31-32 o C) 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. 5 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 6 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 5.1 Implementation Highlights 1) Refinements to on-line database The website can be found at the following URL: http://survey.library.uq.edu.au/pigs/ A login name (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. 7 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: i) Ventilation. Most piggeries had their blinds down and it seemed that it required too much labour to raise and lower them and a simple roll up/roll down version was demonstrated by Mr Patrick Daniel. ii) Creep boxes. Perhaps not being utilised to their best capability but certainly working. iii) Feeding gilts/sows and dry sow stalls. Most farms had dry stalls but were still feeding a restricted diet and water was not available on a continuous basis. iv) Records. Whilst some records are being kept it was still difficult to calculate the number of pigs per sow per year and further improvements are required. v) Little knowledge of appropriate medication/vaccination schedules. An approved medication/vaccination schedule for common problems is provided in the MS 5 report (2 nd six monthly report). The point was made by Dr Fahy that although vaccines are 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: 8 - 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 2 nd six months). Highlights during this time include a training course delivered to the 30 selected 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 9 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. 10 - 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). 5.3 Smallholder Benefits 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. 5.4 Capacity Building 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). 5.6 Project Management No change in project team, apart from the addition of Ms Tarni Cooper to the Australian team. 6. Report on Cross-Cutting Issues 6.1 Environment: No additions 6.2 Gender and Social Issues: No additions 7. Implementation & Sustainability Issues 7.1 Issues, Constraints and Options Issue 1: Slow (but sustained) progress in line with milestones set by CARD [...]... mid-year and at the end of 2008 to obtain production data and determine the major improvements that have been made (which can be the basis for farmer to farmer training) 9 Conclusion Whilst progress has no doubt been made, a reassessment of project training initiatives needs to be made Australian scientists have reduced the frequency of visits to twice per year, but increased the duration The availability... year (November to February depending on the start of Tet), when Australian scientists can devote large blocks of time to gain a deeper understanding of constraints and issues relating to project progress at the local level 7. 2 Sustainability No new issues identified 8 Next Critical Steps 1) Translation of the on-line survey questionnaire (short and long forms) into Vietnamese 2) Monitor progress mid-year... suis has had in Central Vietnam 2) In this endeavour the continued improvement plan through the adoption of the farm survey audit is a priority Issue 2: Avoiding the “consultancy merry-go-round.” Constraints: There is a danger of our project becoming a fruitless repetitive exercise given the three to four short-term trips planned for each year by Australian experts and agreed to by the programme management... Ms Tarni Cooper for large blocks of time at the end of each academic year for the remainder of the project logframe is an excellent long-term investment The focus of the next year will be on making sure the key project interventions are operating satisfactorily on 11 each farm and that groups of farmers are suitably encouraged by their productivity results to form the breeding co-operative Outbreaks... management committee and progress not being attained as fast as is required by the project logframe In any case, these should be “high-level” visits to observe project progress, as we had hoped by this stage that Vietnamese scientists would be largely self-sufficient In recent visits, each time, Australian scientists end up being hands on demonstrators of principles that have often been covered in previous... to be able to organise the right people in advance to receive training, as evidenced by our November training attempt (and no incentive in terms of the recipients of training developing their own private consultancies) Options: 1) Project focus should shift entirely to adopting the continuous improvement model at the demonstration farm level with the goal of farmer to farmer training through each commune...Constraints: Whilst definite progress has been made, the project is not yet ready to be able to provide intensive, ongoing training to district veterinarians/paraveterinarians on best practices, because the farmers do not have evidence yet that the new systems work A dramatic demonstration of the success of nestboxes was only possible because of the unusual weather conditions over winter (ie if... were introduced in summer, we may not have achieved such a successful and rapid adoption rate) We have so far failed to demonstrate to farmers how dramatic their improvements would be, and that there is a considerable cost-benefit to be obtained, with the introduction of better ventilation and sow cooling systems, especially during summer It is also difficult for our Vietnamese scientific colleagues,... commune being the major vehicle of change This will only be truly possible towards the end of the project once herd records validate improved production through adoption of best practices Training materials can then be developed and tailored to take into account the major project breakthroughs (ie the major take-home messages) Also we cannot overemphasise the unforseen delays that the outbreak of FMD... seems to be a breakdown between transfer of information from the Vietnamese scientists and the smallholder farmer and we feel that in future visits, a lot more emphasis needs to be made on making the farmer the decision maker rather than “just telling him/her what to do.” Options: 1) Reduce the number of trips per year but increase the duration of activity 2) Plan the majority of activity around the . 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. blueprint for sustainable small holder pig production in Central Vietnam Vietnamese Institution N ational Institute of Animal Husbandry (NIAH); Hue University o f Agriculture and Forestry (HUAF);. Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development CARD Project Progress Report 004/05VIE A blueprint for sustainable smallholder pig production in Central Vietnam Milestone 7 :