ABSTRACT

This paper summarises the results of a survey conducted in Ea Kar district, Daklak province, Vietnam in September 2007.  From 2000-2005, forage technologies were developed, in selected villages in Ea Kar, using participatory approaches with groups of smallholder farmers.  Successful technologies were scaled out to other villages in Ea Kar.  The 2007 survey documented the adoption of managed forage plots on farmers’ land in Ea Kar.  All households that had planted forages on their farm in Ea Kar were interviewed using a short structured questionnaire.  

More than 2,400 households had adopted the planting of managed forages, which equates to an adoption rate of 22% of households raising cattle.  Adoption was associated with several changes in the cattle production system.  Adopters raised more cattle, engaged in new production systems (i.e. cattle fattening), changed from native to crossbred cattle breeds, used cut-and-carry forages as the main feed resource and kept cattle in pens.  Managed forages made cattle production a more attractive livelihood activity for farmers.  36% of adopters only started to raise cattle after the introduction of forages.  Managed forages were the ‘entry point’ that enabled farmers to engage in more market-oriented cattle production in Ea Kar.

Key words: planted forages, forage adoption, smallholders, impact, upland, Vietnam.

Daklak province is located in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.  Ea Kar is one of 13 districts in Daklak province with a total land area of 103,747 ha, of which 40% is used for agricultural production (Daklak Statistical Year Book (2007).  Agriculture is dominated by mixed crop-livestock smallholder farms. About 65% of agricultural land is planted with annual upland crops such as maize and cassava, 12% is occupied by coffee shrubs and 12% is used for paddy rice production.  Cattle production is an important livelihood activity of farmers in Ea Kar.  Approximately 35% of households in the district are raising cattle and income from sale of cattle accounts for 40% of household cash income (Market study of LLSP 2005).  Cattle are especially important for households living in areas with low fertility soils where coffee production is marginal.  Until recently the main source of feed for cattle has been common property grasslands and agricultural by-products, however, the area available for grazing has been declining sharply as many areas have been reforested or planted with agricultural crops.  The remaining grazing areas are heavily over-grazed.  Cattle producers recognise that the lack of feed severely limits cattle production.

Staff from Tay Nguyen University, in collaboration with CIAT, worked with the Ea Kar extension office and other stakeholders in Ea Kar district, from 2000-2005.  Planted forages were introduced to enable farmers to engage in more profitable, market-oriented cattle production (Khanh et al. 2006).  The project used participatory approaches to develop appropriate forage and feeding technologies and scale out successful feeding systems to other farmers and villages in the district.  By 2007, many farmers had planted forages and had moved from extensive to more intensive cattle production systems.  Furthermore, the cattle population had increased from 8,000 cattle in 2001 to 28,000 cattle in 2007 (Daklak Statistical Yearbook, 2007).

This paper summarizes of the results of a 2007 survey on the adoption of forages.    The aim of the survey was to document forage adoption in all villages in Ea Kar, and so better understand the factors that influence adoption of planted forages and thus guide further interventions.  The survey was conducted as part of a new international project ‘Enhancing livelihoods of poor livestock keepers through increasing use of fodder’, which is funded by IFAD and implemented through the CGIAR Systemwide Livestock Programme.  CIAT, in collaboration with the National Institute of Animal Husbandry and Tay Nguyen University manage the Vietnam component of this project.

The number of households growing planted forages in Ea Kar increased from 200 farmers in the year 2000 to 2,400 households in 2007 (Figure 1).  By 2007, 22.3% of households raising cattle had planted forages on part of their own land.  The rate of adoption varied between villages.  Those with a high rate of adoption tended to be close to the district center, involved early in the forage introduction process and had intensified cattle production with cattle fattening or raising cross-bred calves in pens.  Villages located in areas with access to grazing areas had lower rates of adoption.  Lower rates of adoption were also evident in villages of indigenous people and other ethnic minority people.

The mean size of forage plots grown per household was 840m2 with 32% of households growing forage areas of at least 1,000m2.  The main forage species adopted by farmers were the grasses Pennisetum purpureum ‘Napier’ (59%), Panicum maximum ‘Si Muang’ (37%) and Paspalum atratum ‘Terenos’ (1%) and the legume Stylosanthes guianensis ‘CIAT 184’ (1%).  

Adoption of forages was associated with several changes in the cattle production system.  Adopters had larger herd sizes (3.3 cattle/HH) than non-adopters (2.3 cattle/HH).  Adoption of forages also enabled households to engage in new production systems, such as cattle fattening, and change from raising native cattle to raising crossbred cattle using improved bulls or artificial insemination.  At the time of the survey, 31% of adopters were producing crossbred cattle which were virtually non-existent in 2000.  Fattening of cattle was practiced by 500 households in Ea Kar and 96% of these households had planted forages (Table 1).  Fattening was a new production system for farmers in Ea Kar.  In cow-calf systems only 19% of households had planted forages.  Planted forages supplied more than half of the feed requirements of cattle in cow/calf systems and more that two thirds of the feed requirements of cattle in fattening systems (Table 1).  Forages also enabled households to engage in cattle production as 36% of adopters only started raising cattle after they had planted forages. 

Planting forages on their own land enabled farmers to change and intensify their cattle production systems.  Prior to planting forages, they were fully dependent on a declining common property feed resource; raising cattle was becoming a less and less attractive livelihood activity.  Using planted forages, farmers were able to raise more cattle, keep cattle in pens and use cut-and-carry feeding, start fattening of cattle before sale, change from native to larger cross-bred cattle, and thus produce beef cattle for more profitable, higher-quality markets.  In Ea Kar, as in other smallholder livestock systems in Southeast Asia, the planting of forages was the “entry point” enabling intensification of cattle production and allowing farmers to engage in a more market-oriented production system (Stür et al. 2008).  Another example of systems change was the introduction of artificial insemination (AI) in Ea Kar. In 2007, 1,259 cows were successfully inseminated by the AI service and 79% of these were on farms that had planted forages and kept cows in pens.  These required 1.4 doses per successful pregnancy compared to 2.1 doses on farms that had not adopted forages and thus were using more extensive production systems (Data from Ea Kar extension office).

The adoption of managed forages followed the participatory development of appropriate forage and feeding technologies.  Scaling out accelerated markedly once the benefits of planting forages had been experienced by smallholder farmers.  An economic study conducted in 2005 showed that the net return of fattening cattle with managed forages grown on 1,200 m2 was US$ 511; this compared to US$ 90 if the area was planted with coffee (Khanh and Ha 2006).  In cow-calf production, managed forages reduced the time required to feed and manage cattle and so increased the return to labour from US$ 0.20 per hour in traditional grazing systems to US$ 0.73 for farmers that had planted forages.  Only relative small areas of managed forages were needed to obtain significant benefits.  In Ea Kar, 500 m2 for each cow, calf and growing animal was sufficient to supply all of the green feed requirements in cow-calf systems (Table 1).  Fattening systems required 850 m2 per animal fattened. 

Research is continuing on improving adoption of managed forages in villages where adoption has been low and on partnerships needed to scale out the use of managed forages.

Daklak Statistical Year Book (2007).  Statistical Publishing House, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Khanh, T.T. and Ha, N.V. (2007).  Successful forage development for smallholders in Daklak, Central Highlands, Vietnam: The contribution of forages to livestock development and livelihoods of upland farmers.  In: Hare, M.D and Wongpichet, K. (eds.). Forages: A Pathway to Prosperity for Smallholder Farmers.  Proceedings of an International Symposium, Ubon Ratchathani University, Thailand, 270-284

Khanh T.T., Ha N.V., Phengsavanh P., Horne P. and Stür W. (2006).  The contribution of livestock systems to livelihood sustainability in the central highlands of Vietnam. In:  Towards sustainable livelihoods and ecosystems in mountainous regions. Proceedings of an International Symposium, 7-9 March 2006, Chiang Mai, Thailand. (on CD).

Stür W.W., Connell J., Phengsavanh P. and Khanh T.T. (2008).  Unlocking the potential of smallholder livestock production - using managed forages as an entry point.  Multifunctional Grasslands in a Changing World, Vol. 2. Edited by Organizing Committee of the XXI International Grassland Congress, p.999.