Báo cáo Nghiên cứu khoa học agricultural extension and training for beef cattle development in Nghia Đan, Nghe An

Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Program 208 AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND TRAINING FOR BEEF CATTLE DEVELOPMENT IN NGHIA DAN, NGHE AN Project title: Nghe An Province Sustainable Village Based Beef Cattle Development Training and Extension Program Code of the project: CARD 010/06 VIE Author(s): Hoang Van Tao1, Nguyen Quoc Toan2, and Timothy Graham Harvey3 Project Implementing organisations: 1 Nghe An 19th May Fruit and Vegetable Company; 2 Bavi Cattle and Forage Research Centre under National Institute of Animal Science; 3 Massey University, New Zealand. SUMMARY 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 Key words: beef production, small householders, project, pastures, silage, extension, training 1. Background Nghe An is the biggest province in Vietnam with the area of 15000 km2 and the population of more than 3.4 million persons, of which 70% is farmers living in rural regions that have lower living standards and social-economic conditions than the average level in the whole country1. In the province, the traditional agriculture mainly relies on horticulture, animal husbandry only occupies a small part in the whole agricultural income1. The livestock production sector has had little investment over the last 20 years. Therefore the structure of livestock production systems is poorly established, with old technologies used. In order to change the agricultural structure reasonably, increase livestock production, diversify agricultural products and achieve sustainable rural development, the national and provincial governments have issued the policy of strengthening and pushing the livestock production including beef cattle development on the aspect of increasing the productivity and quality of the products in animal husbandry. CARD 010/06 VIE – Beef cattle development in Nghe An 209 Some new beef breeds have been introduced in the province through artificial insemination technology and direct importation. However, the provincial beef development has still been slow because of farmers' low knowledge in animal nutrition balance and limited application of new technologies, especially in remote areas. All of this is shown by the small population of beef herds, low productivity and fertility and limited growth rate in the region2. Currently, the province owns about 400.000 local yellow and improved beef cattle (mainly Zebu crossed breeding), being reared separately in small sized farms from lowland to plant for the purposes of food and/or draught3. These animals can be selected for the breeding improvement program in order to increase the effectiveness, productivity and quality. 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 project VIE 010/06 is completely suitable for the above mentioned decision No 1155. The project aims to gain the objective of developing a village based beef production at small holders in effective and sustainable model to improve beef livestock system and increase farmers' income through training and extension approaches. 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). 2. Research methodology The research project has been implemented by using agricultural extension method through training courses that were organized for the local farmers in the project site and in some locations that had an experienced time of raising cattle such as Bavi and Thaihoa. These training courses were held with different methods that were suitable for a number of selected activities and objectives. Of which, main activities were focused on beef production technologies, breeding improvement techniques, the introduction of high yield and quality species of tropical grass, animal feed preservation and processing technologies, especially the silage making technologies using different forages and by- products. To assess livestock performance by farmers themselves is the second method that the project applied during the implementation time of VIE 010/06. The project farmers were given girth tapes with using instructions to measure their animal's chest circumference besides, they were also taught how to record and assess their animal's performance every month. This method helped farmers to form the habits of observing the growth rate of their beef cattle therefore, to change appropriately the diet and ratios for their animals and compare the performance between the local and cross-bred beef cattle. The collected data has been processed by using Excel software. 3. Results and discussions 3.1 Extension activities 3.1.1 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 Hoang Van Tao, Nguyen Quoc Toan & Timothy Graham Harvey 210 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 adopting technologies. Person & Area Technology No. Farmers knowledge transfer No. Farmers adopting new technology Toan Village bull 5 HH as bull managers 4 using & keeping records Cross breeding 120 75% adoption Animal health 80 70% adoption Silage 20 30% adoption New pastures 60 75% using 1 year later Feeding guidelines Ly (Thai Hoa) New pastures 38 provided seed 18 continued after 2 years Hoa AI & breeding 45 (mostly non- project) 40% conception rate Nutrition na na 3.1.2 Farmer Training Training over the period of the project fell into three distinct approaches.  Demonstration training directly provided to farmers 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 2. 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. Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Program 211 Table 2. Project site demonstration & practical field training Date Location Type Presenter Subject No. Partici-pant Farmers Techni- cians Dura- tion (hours) 12/07/07 19 May Demo Phil Rolston Pasture esta- blishmnet 5 5 4 17/07/07 N. Son Demo Tim Harvey Silage 8 6 2 2 17/07/07 N. Son Demo Tim Harvey Silage 8 7 1 2 17/07/07 Nghia Son Demo Tim Harvey Silage 9 6 3 2 18/07/07 Nghia Lam Demo Tim Harvey Silage 5 4 1 2 18/07/07 Nghia Lam Demo Tim Harvey Silage 9 6 3 2 18/07/07 Nghia Lam Demo Tim Harvey Silage 8 6 2 2 19/07/07 Nghia Yen Demo Tim Harvey Silage 4 3 1 2 19/07/07 N. Yen Demo Tim Harvey Silage 7 6 1 2 19/07/07 Nghia Yen Demo Tim Harvey Silage 8 7 1 2 22/09/07 N. Son Demo Tim Harvey Silage 12 10 2 2 28/09/07 N. Lam Demo Tim Harvey Silage 7 3 4 2 28/09/07 Nghia Yen Demo Tim Harvey Silage 6 2 4 2 30/11/07 Project site practi cal Mr Hoa AI Training 10 9 1 100 20/09/08 19 May Co Demo Tim Harvey Pasture management 5 0 5 4 23/09/08 19 May Co Demo Tim Harvey Silage 10 8 2 4 26/09/08 19 May Co Demo Tim Harvey Pasture management 22 16 6 4 12/03/07 19 May Co Field Harvey/Rolston Beef Nut/Ensiling Bi-Prod 38 30 8 4 20/09/07 19 May Co Field Michael Hare Pasture Nursery Mgmt 10 10 4 26/09/07 19 May Co Field Tim Harvey Condition Score 12 2 10 4 TOTALS 203 131 72 152 AVERAGE 10.2 7.3 3.6 7.6 No Of Demo 20  Formal workshop within the project sites 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 3. Hoang Van Tao, Nguyen Quoc Toan & Timothy Graham Harvey 212 Table 3. Project site workshop training in Nghe Dan District Date Location Type Presenter Subject No. Partici- pant Farme rs Techni- cians Dura- tion (hours) 05/03/07 19 May Co W/S Tim Harvey Farm Management / Beef Nutrition 14 14 4 13/07/07 19 May Co W/S Phil Rolston Project Goals 20 15 5 4 18/09/07 19 May Co W/S Michael Hare Tropical Pastures 8 5 3 4 24/09/07 19 May Co W/S Averill Ramsey- Evans Cattle Database Management 4 4 4 29/09/07 19 May Co W/S Tim Harvey Training Schedule 20 10 10 4 19/03/08 19 May Co W/S Tim Harvey Tropical Pasture & Farming Systems 15 3 12 4 20/03/08 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 Thai Hoa W/S Tim Harvey Beef Production 26 14 12 6 03/03/09 Nghai Lam 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 Nghia Son W/S Harvey/Hare/ Rolston/Toan Final workshop, breeding, forages, nutrition balance, 65 45 20 4 TOTALS 327 203 119 62 AVERAGE 23.3 14. 5 8.5 4.4 No of W/S 14  International and national specialised training 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 species4. 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 4. One formal training event in New Zealand was undertaken in 2007. This training involved the 2 project leaders Mr Diep 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 CARD 010/06 VIE – Beef cattle development in Nghe An 213 scholarship was completed at the beginning of the project with Mr Toan spending 2-months in New Zealand undertaking practical and formal training in NZ farming systems. Table 4. International & National Specialised Training Events Date Location Type Presenter Subject No. Partici- pant Farme rs Techni- cians Dura- tion (hours) 12/08/07 to 28/09/07 BCFRC W/S BCFRC Staff AI Training 1 1 250 2& 3/10/07 BCFRC W/S BCFRC Staff Beef Cattle 25 15 5 16 12& 13/12/08 BCFRC W/S Toan Pasture & Seed Production 18 13 5 16 15- 19/03/08 Thailand training Intens ive Michael Hare Tropical Pasture & Farming Systems 12 3 9 25 6- 12/02/10 Queens- land, Aust Intens ive Tim Harvey J. Groaks Tropical cattle breeds and management 3 0 2 50 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 TOTALS 169 56 107 365 AVERAGE 24.1 8.0 15.3 No of W/S 5 4 5 5 3.2 Establish and operate key farmer groups in three project communes The Project approach to selecting three beef farmer groups in three communes with 9 key farm households. Key project activities such as: using project Sindi bulls to crossbreed local cows, with identification of improved bulls to successfully crossbreed/mate; establishment and harvesting of new pasture species/varieties; application of silage technology; providing small scale equipment such as small grass choppers, silage tanks, new pasture varieties, ear tags, and a measuring tape to reasonably accurately estimate cow liveweight on a regular basis. 3.2.1 Improvement of local cows The project has introduced Red Sindhi 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. Caption Village Bull 3.2.2 Establishment of new pasture species/varieties and application of silage technology Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Program 214 In 2007 the project identified the following new pasture options which were evaluated with project and non-project farmers: * Mulato II (Brachiaria ruziziensis x Brachiaria brizantha x Brachiaria decumbens) Mulato II is an improved bred hybrid cultivar bred at CIAT in Colombia and released in 2004 for more fertile soils that soybeans will grow in. Mulato II is a high quality forage grass. The grass has a hairy stem which can irritate the arms of some peoples when being hand harvested. Mulato II pasture * Ubon paspalum (Paspalum atratum) is a wild species native to central-western Brazil and adapted to low pH soils and tolerates Al toxicity. Ubon paspalum has very wide leaves and a very high leaf/stem ratio. Farmers find it very easy to cut because it is so leafy. Ubon paspalum is a very palatable grass, has good digestibility but its crude protein levels are lower than other grasses (5-10%). Cutting Ubon paspalum * Improved Napier grass species. There are two improved Napier grass species that are far leafier than the common Napier grass planted by farmers in Nghia Dan district. Cultivar Mott is called dwarf Napier and is more leafy and suitable for grazing than common Napier grass. Hybrid Napier or banana grass (Pennisetum purpureum x P. americanum) is a cross between Napier grass and pearl millet. Improved Napier grass in Thai Hoa Application silage technology 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. The best combinations of silage are:  Napier grass 70% cassava leaf 30%  green maize stove 60% cassava leaf and top 40%  sugar cane top 70% cassava leaf and top 30%  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). CARD 010/06 VIE – Beef cattle development in Nghe An 215 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. 3.3 Liveweight Monitoring Live weight data collection – the beef project introduced both electronic scales and weigh band technology for LWT recording as part of the project. Also the project used a commercial stock recording computer programme to capture the data and generate reports. The LWT recording aspect of the project has had variable results. The small size of each farm makes the benefit of LWT recording problematical and has limited financial advantage. As expected the electronic recording had little application with very poor facilities available on smallholders land. The only advantage in electronic scales was to be able to demonstrate to smallholders that there was a correlation between girth size and LWT when using the weigh band. The weigh band technology has allowed LWT recording to be undertaken and has provided the project with a reasonable data set to assess between farm LWT and growth rate changes overtime. Growth rates of young animals i.e. birth to 18- months has changed more dramatically. The project has information on young animal growth rates between November 2007 and February 2008; the average growth rates for this cohort were less than 0.1kg/day. If we look at the next corresponding season growth rates had increased to 0.34kg/day (a 340% increase). The project has no corresponding data for the wet summer period in 2007, however, growth rates for young animals through this period (July 08 – October 08) averages were 0.54kg/d. The majority of improvement can be explained by improved nutrition, rather than breeding. These results reinforce the need for breeding and nutrition to be focused on in parallel rather than in isolation. The sample size of recorded animals is really small; however, the size of the increase and improvement indicates that the improvement is real and measurable. A more detailed analysis Hoang Van Tao, Nguyen Quoc Toan & Timothy Graham Harvey 216 of LWT changes and growth rates will be able to be made at the end of the project when we have 2-years of data. However, there are a number of key factors that the data does show: a. Mature cow LWT increased significantly between September 2007 and November 2008. Chart 1 shows this increase starting at 248kg in September 2007 rising to 305kg in November 2008. This increase is likely to be due to an increase in nutrition as well as some aging of the recorded population. As has been shown in the modelling elsewhere in the report the traditional level of nutrition was limiting the size of beef cattle. Chart 1: b. Growth rate of young animals increased significantly over the 2-years. This was due to the introduction of new genetic material as well as increased nutrition. Growth rates recorded from December 2008 – June 2009 showed an average growth rate, for animals under 12-months of age, of 0.43 kg/day and the average LWT of calves at 6-months of age was between 90-95 kg. Within the project farmers the average LWT at sale was between 150-180 kg. This LWT being achieved between 12-15-months of age. Both these results are a significant increase in performance from baseline data and observations by local experts5. Chart 2 shows the difference in growth rate of these young animals. It is not possible to separate out the proportion of increase due to improved genetics vs improved nutrition; both factors are likely to have play an important part as previous analysis has shown that genetic improvement cannot be realised without going hand in hand with improved nutrition. Chart 2: 225 245 265 285 305 325 Charge in Average LWT of Mature cows Avg LWT Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Program 217 4. Conclusions and recommendations The research project has been done successfully within the project VIE 010/06. The application of the agricultural extension methods through training courses, demonstrations and study tours and visits has had a great impact on changing the custom and habits of farmers who rear beef cattle in Nghia Dan particularly and in Nghe An generally. From this achievement, the beef production in the region will be able to develop sustainably and participate in increasing farmers' income besides improving the local farming system. The research project recommends to be funded continuously in the future so that the achievement can be extended with exact and more detailed conclusions. References 1. Nghe An People's Committee, January 2010. Annual Report - 2009; 2. Nghe An Animal Breeding Centre, December 2009. Annual report - 2009; 3. Nghe An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, January 2010. Annual report - 2009; 4. Michael Hare and Phil Rolston, 2007. Baseline Data Report, Nov 2007, Part 6, page 44; 5. Nghia Dan Agricultural Extension Service, 2009. Annual Report - 2008.