Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development

Project Progress Report

009/VIE05: The development and implementation
of new appropriate technologies for improving
goat production and increasing small-holder
income in the central region of Vietnam MS3: SECOND SIX-MONTHLY REPORT
(July to December 2006)

8
th
February 2007

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1. Institute Information
Project Name The development and implementation
of new appropriate technologies for
improving goat production and
increasing small-holder income in the
central region of Vietnam (009/VIE05)
Working Title
Vietnam-Australia Goat Improvement
Project (2006-2009)

Position: Director, Fax: 8434838889
Organisation: Goat and Rabbit Research Centre Email:

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2. Project Abstract

The bbb DmnaweESCRIBES
was initiated by the visit of Dr Norton to Vietnam (April 19 – May 4 2006) when it was
decided that the working title of the project will be “Vietnam-Australia Goat
Improvement Project (2006-2009)”, and this title will be used in all official future
reports. The Introduction and background, project objectives, approach methodologies
and means of implementation of methodologies remain the same, and the following
report present the progress made to December 2006. During this period, the planned new
technologies were introduced onto 27 farms in the Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan and Lam
Dong provinces, these concrete aprons under each goat house to collect manure,
vaccination of all goats against enterotoxemia, and goat pox, in some cases, treatment
with ivermectins to control internal parasites and the planting of small areas (0.20 ha) to
pasture grasses, legumes and fodder trees. A review of each farm after these introductions
indicated variable success on some, and excellent results on others. A plan of action was
developed for each farm to correct any deficiencies, and the success of these plans will be

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reviewed again when visiting Vietnam next in March 2007. During this time, an
Advisory Board meeting was held in Dalat, Lam Dong, and provided a means for project
staff to get feed-back from DARD officers on any problems that arose. A Farmers Forum
was also held in Dalat, offering an opportunity for project staff to explain the purpose of
the project, and to invite any questions on the operations of the project. Similar meetings
will be held in 2007 and 2008. A further 30 farms in these areas were surveyed so that
progress on the project farms can be judged against those on which no technologies have
been applied.

4. Introduction & Background
Goat production in Vietnam has rapidly expanded in the north with the introduction of
new knowledge for disease control, feeding management and the introduction and
selection of both local (Co, Bachthao) and exotic (Boer, Saanen, Jumnapari etc) breeds of
goats to village systems. These initiatives have been lead by the Goat and Rabbit
Research Centre (GRRC) at Bavi, from which an expanding milking and meat goat

6. Economic evaluation of impact of new technologies on goat productivity
7. Support for pilot meat processing facilities at the Ninh Hai Goat Research Centre,
Ninh Thuan
Within each objective there are a series of activities associated with expected outputs,
and these plans are shown in Table 10, (Project Logframe) which is the same table
shown as Table 3.1 in the Final Project Design document approved by CARD for
implementation. With the exception of Objective 7, parts or all of the above objectives
have been achieved in this first 6 month period.

Approach and Methodology
The information provided below is the same as that presented in the Project document
and agreed to as appropriate to the objectives outlines above.
General approach. The project will be located in the Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Lam
Dong provinces which are located in the south central coast of Vietnam, 334 km from Ho
Chi Minh city and some 1400 km from Hanoi. The local people are mainly Kinh, Cham,
Ede and are amongst the poorest in Vietnam (US$45-65 income per annum). The
traditional farming systems vary from rice cropping in the river deltas in Ninh Thuan to
upland farming systems based on cassava, root crops, fruit and forest trees and livestock.
Goat numbers in 2004 in Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Lam Dong were estimated to be
93,930; 35,275 and 9309 respectively. Goats are largely managed by women and
children. Income from livestock forms 22 to 25% of total income from agricultural
production in this region. Three broad categories of farming systems (lowland high
rainfall, upland low rainfall and highland high rainfall) have been selected. The plan is to
develop 27 farms (15 in Ninh Thuan, 9 in Binh Thuan, 3 in Lam Dong) by firstly
surveying each enterprise and then providing new technologies (housing, health care,
nutrition, breeding bucks) as indicated. These participating farmers will be also trained in
a short course at GRRC and then on farm by DARD officers in the implementation of
these management skills. In each province, 2 farms will be selected as demonstration
farms which will be used to train other farmers in these techniques and as model of
progressive goat production systems. The selected farmers will have experience of goat

The project will depend on the continuous availability of a reliable vehicle and driver to
gain access to the villages, and particularly for some of the remote districts of Lam Dong
and Binh Thuan. Access to the participating farms could be compromised by poor roads
and weather, and the timing of all activities will be planned with these limitations in
mind. It is planned to introduce Bachthao bucks of proven genetic merit to replace those
currently used. With the continuous mating systems usually found, it is possible that in
the first year, few non-pregnant goats would be initially available for insemination by
introduced bucks. There is also a possibility that a disease epidemic such as foot and
mouth disease could compromise the outcome of this project. All the above risks (and
any others that arise) will be assessed during the survey, and implementation strategies
modified to meet any limitations. While it is recognised that natural disasters such as
disease, drought, flood, fire and typhoon could compromise the outcomes of this project,
there is little planning that can be done to avoid such calamities. The support and active
participation of farmers in the management of introduced goats and experimental
programs will be essential, and all farmers will be advised and supported by both local
(village and district) and provincial DARD officers in the implementation of all planned
strategies.
Implementation Methodologies. A key component of this project is the identification of
the resources available on the selected farms, and it is from this information that
management/intervention strategies will be developed by project staff to overcome the
perceived limitations to improved productivity. The first activity of the project will
therefore be to conduct a survey of each farm to provide the above information, and this
information will then form the baseline against which change will be measured. The
expert GRRC and Australian team will then devise strategies for each farm depending on
their circumstances. In some cases, a common strategy can be applied to all farms
(replace bucks, improve goat house, provide vaccines, drugs and recommendations for
use), in other cases, the strategy will be particular to each farm (improved feed and forage

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supply). It is recognised that local knowledge of feed resources and remedies must be

elected for study. This extra survey activity has taken more time than expected, and was
only completed in late December 2006. The remaining activities in Objective 1 (Output
1.3) will be undertaken in Year 3 and reported at the appropriate time.
Output 1.2, Activity 1.2.3. Collation and Summary of Survey Data
The collection of information on the goat-farming systems is an on-going
study, and a comprehensive understanding of this system will only be available at the end
of this project when comparisons can be made of the gains in productivity that were
achieved. The initial baseline survey has provided a snap-shot view of 27 farms in 7
districts in 3 southern Provinces of Vietnam, and data is still being collected on the
incidence of disease, reproductive performance, live-weights and economics of goat
raising in these areas. The baseline survey was followed by the application of the
technologies proposed, viz, ie improved housing, preventative disease control and

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provision of better nutrition through the provision of on-farm forages. CD Appendix 1
presents tables and brief summaries of data collected for 27 “project” and 30 “other”
farms in the areas under study. This report is presented as evidence of completion of
Milestone 3 as listed above. This data will be later condensed and summarised in the
coming year, and integrated with additional quantitative information on “farm
productivity”, leading finally to a comprehensive document at the end of the project
which will include the final outcome of the technological innovations on the productivity
and well-being of Vietnamese goat farmers in these areas.

Objective 2. Training and Information Dissemination
Output 2.1 (Train provincial DARD officers at GRRC) Activities 2.1.1 and 2.1.2 were
reported as completed in the First Six-monthly report. Output 2.2 (Preparation of
demonstration and instructional materials for use with participating farmers) will be
completed in the next 6 month period during which time a training workshop for other
local non-participant farmers (Output 2.7) will be undertaken. Output 2.3 (Train
participating farmers in the application of new technologies) Activities 2.3.1 and 2.3.2

Output 3.2 Control of all disease to improve health of goats on all farms.
Activities 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 were planned to be completed in this period, but could be only partially
implemented for a number of reasons. In Binh Thuan province, despite assurances that our

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program could be carried out, no vaccinations were made against any of the diseases suggested
to be important, and reasons are being sought as to why this program was not conducted. In other
areas, vaccination against Enterotoxemia and goat pox was undertaken, but it was not thought
relevant to vaccinate against FMD. The goat pox vaccine was produced in Vietnam, and it is not
clear yet how effective the vaccine is. Dr Norton has requested experimental evidence on the
efficacy of this vaccine, but to date no information is available. While there is no doubt that goat
pox is a serious disease of goats in Vietnam, there is little information available in its
epidemiology or treatment. Further information needs to be collected to clarify this matter. It was
also considered important to use ivermectins to treat all goats in the study to control external and
internal parasites. However, this treatment was left to the judgement of the farmers who were
asked to pay for the treatment, and as a consequence, few farmers treated all animals with
ivermectins, and intestinal parasites are still likely to be a major problem in these goats. It is
imperative that all goats be treated soon, and that the project meets the costs of all drugs
recommended. This aspect of the study needs more attention if we are to provide the disease free
conditions essential for improving productivity in these goats.

Objective 4. Improve the availability and quality of feeds and forages for goats
Output 4.1 Provision of improved forage supply to participating farms
Activities 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3 and 4.1.4 were completed with the establishment of small
plots (0.2 ha) of mixed legume/grass pastures in June/July 2006 before the wet season
had begun However, as mentioned in the reports on individual farms, some plantings
were done too late in the wet season, and waterlogging caused many pasture plots to fail.
Recommendations were made during this current period for some replanting to be done,
but not until the beginning of the wet season (May), and exercising a better choice of
location. Dr Ross Gutteridge will be coming to Vietnam to further advise on pasture

demonstration farms on which other local farmers can be instructed in the application of
the new technologies to improve the productivity of their goats.

5.3 Capacity Building

The major focus of the project at this stage has been the training of DARD officers from
Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Lam Dong provinces in goat husbandry and management,
in the conduct of surveys and the acquisition of expertise to act as goat production
specialists in their provinces. The initial training of 14 DARD officers at GRRC has had a
flow on effect, in that, when farms were selected for inclusion in the project, one DARD
officer, one local government officer and the commune (village) head was involved in all
stages of the process, from interview to implementation. This has the effect of creating
awareness of project activities and the new techniques being applied to goat production in
each area. There has also been individual training of farmers when the new technologies
were being implemented, and each farmer will have an increased knowledge of the
prospects and limitations to goat production on their individual farms. It has been noted
that there is already a significant flow-on effect in each area, where other farmers are
implementing some technologies, eg collecting pasture seeds from project farms for
planting on their own farms, improving the hygiene of their goat houses, and actively
seeking vaccines to treat their stock, particularly vaccines for goat pox.

5.4 Publicity
The survey created local awareness of the aims and activities of the project, and at the
present time, farmer manuals for goat management are being prepared. It is not known
how this information has been reported by the local press, but in the coming 6 months,
signs will erected at each farm describing the project activities, demonstrations will be
organised on selected farms for inspection by other local farmers, a workshop will be run
in each area during April/May 2007 to encourage the adoption of the techniques which
have been applied to the “demonstration” farms, etc. Publicity will follow once we have
established farms which are successfully applying our prescribed technologies. When it

anticipated to some extent by choosing farms which had “all-weather” access by
DARD officers. However, some pastures were only poorly established due to
planting too late in the wet season, these problems will be avoided for this years
planting.
6.2 Gender and Social Issues
There have been no gender or social issues which have affected the implementation
of the project as planned. Two farmers have withdrawn from the project, both
wishing to concentrate more on other farming enterprises than goats.
7. Implementation & Sustainability Issues
7.1 Issues and Constraints
There have been no major issues which have impeded the implementation of the
project
as planned, with excellent access and collaboration being gained on all 27 farms being
studied, and with eager participation in the application of the technologies proposed. It
should be noted that this is a complex organisational exercise, requiring the co-operation
of many individuals, and this complexity has so far been expertly managed by Dr Mui
and her team. There is no doubt that some issues will arise as we progress further into the
project. There is one issue that does deserve comment, and that is associated with our

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plan to introduce selected (and superior) Bachthao bucks to improve the genetic
background of this breed in the region. As noted above, many owners did not actually
have adult breeding bucks, having sold them in previous season. It is not clear what these
farmers were going to do in the coming breeding season, perhaps borrow or buy a new
buck. Dr Binh plans to identify in each province a large goat enterprise which has
“superior” Bachthao bucks, to buy these bucks and circulate then around the project
farms (and others) over the period of the project. The issue here is determining the extent
to which they are superior, it is not sufficient to select on body weight (size) alone, since
this may simply be “environmental” (single born, good nutrition) and not necessarily
genetic (as determined by progeny performance). While we have ensured that all farms


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investment in the resources needed, since project funding was only restricted to the
original 27 farms surveyed.
9. Conclusions
Substantial achievements have been made in the first 9 months of the project, during
which time a training workshop for DARD officers was completed at GRRC, a survey
questionnaire was developed and applied to 57 selected farms in Ninh Thuan, Binh
Thuan and Lam Dong provinces, a review of deficiencies on each farm undertaken and
intervention strategies devised and applied to each farm before the wet season limited
access to these farms. The success of the strategies applied will be assessed in the March
2007 visit, and alternative recommendations made to accommodate any deficiencies
observed in the system. 13