Intensive forage cultivation reduces labour input and increases cattle production income in smallholder mixed farming communities of South Central Coastal Vietnam
Khanh, Ho Le Phi; Corfield, Jeff; Lane, Peter; Ba, Nguyen Xuan; Parsons, DavidAbstract
We investigated the impact of growing introduced forages on cattle production in three communes (Cat Trinh, An Chan and Phuoc Dinh) in South Central Coastal Vietnam. New forages, management, and feeding practices were introduced to 45 selected Best Bet Farmers (BBF) using participatory-adaptive methods over a 3-year period. The BBF changed their cattle production system from grazing and harvesting of native forages to partial grazing plus stall-feeding of cultivated forages. This changed production system reduced the labour time for the BBF because they spent less time managing and cutting native forage for their cattle. The reduction in labour time enabled farmers to re-allocate saved labour to diversify their activities, and increase household income and social interaction within the community. The process succeeded because the BBF accepted the new forage species and applied the new farming practices delivered within a participatory-adaptive framework. The smallholder farmers’ acceptance and ownership of proposed techniques are important for optimising livelihood benefits and ensuring the scaling-out of such techniques to other farmers.
Keywords
Best bet farmers; Cattle production; Labour saving; Livelihood; Participatory-adaptivePublished in
Journal of Agriculture and Food Research2020, volume: 2, article number: 100067
Authors' information
UKÄ Subject classification
Agricultural Science
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2020.100067
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/112342