Dynamics and constraints of livestock production systems in Cam Giang district, Hai Duong Province, North Vietnam

H Q Hanh, V D Ton and P Lebailly*

Faculty of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Hanoi University of Agriculture, Vietnam
hanquanghanh1304@gmail.com
* Faculty of Economic and Rural Development, Gembloux Agro Biotech, University of Liège, Belgium

Abstract

In Northern Vietnam, the livestock production sector has been strongly encouraged to develop by the government for many years as an important livelihood strategy to alleviate household poverty. Over the last few decades, it has been developed quickly, but remained unsustainable. This study aims to identify the dynamics of livestock production systems during the economic transformation period and their current constraints as the basic for setting up sustainable development policies. A survey, which is based on participatory and retrospective approaches, was conducted at 38 households in two communes of Hai Duong province in 2010.

The results indicated a significant evolution of livestock production systems from a traditional small-scale production system into a specialized intensive one due to the land law and the rice land conversion program in 1990s and the industrialization and urbanization process in 2000s. The intensification of livestock production system, which is accompanied by the increasing dependence on imported inputs and the limited knowledge and skills in adequate techniques and disease management, poses a huge difficulty to producers in developing their livestock production systems. Therefore, the priority of development policies should be given to the promotion of the local resource utilisation as feed for animals and to the improvement of farmers’ ability to manage their production through not only government supports but also participation of social organisations and farmers.

Key Words: animal production systems, evolution, Red river delta

Introduction

Located in the centre of the Red river delta, Hai Duong province has the advantage of developing the agricultural production, especially the animal husbandry. For many years, the growth rate of animal production sector has been increased notably due to its high profitability and the incentive policy of the government. The contribution of animal husbandry to the total output value of agriculture of the province increased significantly from 20.7% in 1999 to 31.4% in 2008 (Hai Duong Statistics Office 2010). In the next decade, the province will give priority to the promotion of animal production to become a major sub-sector of agriculture and to contribute much more to the economy (Hai Duong’s People Committee 2008).

However, it seems to be difficult to achieve the goal of the provincial government because most of the livestock farms are now facing with a number of constraints such as the threats of various animal infectious epidemics, the extreme instability of the market and the economic crisis. Moreover, the acceleration of industrialisation and urbanisation in Hai Duong in some recent years also has made a strong impact on the development of the animal production system of most households. On the one hand, this process will give animal keepers opportunities to develop their animal herd size to meet the increasing demand for food of animal origin. On the other hand, the expansion of industrial zones may also limit the development of the animal farms due to their potentially negative impacts such as animal waste pollution, animal disease transmissions to human, etc.

The development strategies for the livestock production systems can be appropriately set out through diagnosing their evolutionary series over a long time and the current constraints facing most producers in the region. Therefore, this study aims to identify the dynamics of livestock production systems during the economic transformation period and the major difficulties confronted by animal farms in Hai Duong province as a representative case for the North Vietnam. Based on this understanding, several implications for the setting of appropriate policies on the sustainable development of animal production will be formulated.

Methodology

Description of the study sites

Hai Duong is located in the centre of the Red river delta, Northern Vietnam ( Figure 1). The province lies between latitude 20041’10” and 21014’20” north and longitude 106007’20” and 106036’35” East (Hai Duong People’s Committee 2008). The total natural areas of the province are 1651.85 km², equals to 7.8% of the total area of the Red river delta and 0.5% of the whole nation (GSO 2009). The territory of province slightly slopes from the northwest to the southeast with the difference of the altitude ranking from 10 to 616m in the high area, and from 0.9 to 5m in the plain delta. The highland part in the North occupies 262.85 km², or 15.91% of total province area. The plain basin in the South shares 1389.00 km², equal to 84.09% of total natural areas, which is shaped and deposited by alluvium soil layers from Thai Binh river system.

Figure 1. Geographical location of Cam Hoang and Tan Truong commune, Cam Giang district, Hai Duong province

The study was carried out in Cam Giang district, northwest of Hai Duong. Cam Giang is an intersection district of important transportation roads, including the highway No.5 and the Hanoi - Hai Phong railway as the main backbone connected Hanoi, Hung Yen province, Hai Duong city and Hai Phong city. The total natural land areas of the district are 10,899.43 ha, corresponding to 6.62% of total province areas. It has a population of 125,458 inhabitants with the average population density in 2008 was 1,151 persons per square kilometre (Hai Duong Statistics Office 2010).

Data collection and analysis

Data collection was conducted at both regional (district and commune) and farm levels. At the district level, the secondary data analysis (including map-based analysis) and the initial field trips (transect walks) throughout the district enabled us to stratify it into two main zones, including one at the central and industrialized part and the other at the remote and agriculture-based area. One representative commune in each zone was chosen (Tan Truong in the central location and Cam Hoang in the distant part). Exploratory interviews were then implemented with the participation of local decision-makers, including director of department of agriculture and rural development, chief of the commune, and some old farmers, to identify the main agro-ecological and socio-economic changes and their influences on the evolution of agrarian systems since 1980s.

Based on the analysis of general evolution of agrarian systems during some last decades, the typology of livestock production systems was tentatively classified according to the differentiation between groups of farmers about their diversification and specialization strategies and the intensive level of production. These two livestock production systems, namely livestock-fish production system and livestock-fish-crop production system, were then precisely defined at the farm level throughout the informal visits and surveys at several (about four or five) farm households in each category of production systems. This kind of qualitative typology, which built on the basis of consultations and participatory approaches of local people rather than the statistical typology, helps to identify all the categories of livestock production systems that are representative for the whole study site.

The selection of farming households for in-depth interviews was implemented by the stratified and random method. Based on the previous tentative typology of livestock production systems at the regional level, a list of farming households belonging to each category of production system was developed by the count of the key respondents (veterinarian or head of the agricultural department of the commune). The relative homogeneity of each farm class was verified by the informal interviews in several farms randomly selected from the list. If each group is highly homogenous, the final sampling will be done afterward. On the contrary, if there is a significant heterogeneity, the classification work will be revised and checked before selecting samples. The final sampling was then conducted by selecting randomly households from the list of each livestock production system. The number of samples varied from one production system to another one, depending on the diversity and the accessibility to farms in each production system. A total of 13 farms in the livestock-fish production system and 25 farms in the livestock-fish-production system were chosen for the in-depth surveys in 2010.

At the farm level, in order to examine the dynamics of livestock production systems and their current constraints, the retrospective method was employed for data collection at the household level. Farmers were, firstly, requested to provide data and information at the current time of the survey (in 2010). Then, the data (e.g. land areas, livestock population, etc.) was recalled by farmers across the year, mostly in some specific years when significant changes occurred. The year 1993 was considered as the starting point for the change because the agricultural land was redistributed to farm holdings for long-term use according to the land law. Then, in 2003, their production systems underwent a significant change due to the acceleration of industrial zones in this region. Thus, information about the evolution of livestock production systems was identified for three specific years (1993, 2003 and 2010). The data in the past was defined as the average or mean value of that year in the normal condition. A semi-structure questionnaire that contains both open and closed inquiries was constructed and used for this retrospective investigation.

The change in land use system (rice land and fish ponds) and the animal flock size often related strongly to the dynamics of livestock production systems because they reflected the evolutionary series and accumulation trend of production resources as well as the intensive level of production of the farm households. Therefore, they are the main indicators of livestock production system dynamics.

The descriptive statistic method was mainly employed to calculate the mean of the samples. If all samples are normally distributed with equal variances, ANOVA is used. Otherwise, nonparametrics tests (Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney) are used if both conditions are not met, using Minitab 14 software.

Results and discussions

Agrarian landscape changes and dynamics of livestock production systems

In general, it is observed that there has been a great change in agrarian landscape and livestock production system in the study site over last few decades ( Figure 2). It includes the movement of animal farms from the homestead land to the rice fields during the rice land conversion program and the urbanisation and industrialisation process. Accordingly, the livestock production system has evolved from an integrated livestock-fish-crop system in 1980s and 1990s to a specialized livestock-fish production system in 2000s.

In the 1980s, most animal sheds were built close to the home gardens and fish ponds of family houses for the efficient recycle of crop by-products and animal wastes. In the field, rice was cultivated largely and rotated with some winter crops (mostly potatoes and sweet potatoes) to supply food for family consumption.

In the second decade (1990s), especially since 1993, when the food security was basically ensured at the regional level and the land law was issued by the state, livestock farms started to be developed in the rice field according to the program of rice land conversion into fish ponds and animal buildings. Under the encouragement and instruction of the commune, an increasing number of families implemented this transformation, from 35 to 100 farms in 1994-1995 in Cam Hoang commune, for example, with a total rice land area of 35ha (Cam Hoang’s People Committee, 2005). Moreover, some winter crops such as maize and soybean were also grown largely to meet the rapid demand for feed and forage for livestock flocks and fish. The integrated livestock-fish-crop production system was the dominate model in this stage.

Figure 2.Chronological series of the agrarian landscape transect of Cam Giang district (Source: Participatory discussions and personal observation, 2010)

The acceleration of industrialization process in 2000s caused a significant change in the agrarian landscape of the region. In the central part, a huge area of agricultural land of farm households was withdrawn for the installation of industry factories. In Tan Truong commune, for instance, the Tan Truong industrial park was constructed in 2005 with a total land area of 199.3ha, and will be expanded about 100ha in 2015-2020 (Hai Duong Industry and Trade Department 2009). Thus, the livestock farms could not be developed in the homestead land in the central zone. Several large animal farms were expanded in the rice fields, away from the central town.

Moreover, the cultivation areas of winter crops have declined significantly during this decade, leading to the shortage of animal feed produced on farm. Statistical data of Hai Duong province indicated that the cultivation areas of several winter crops have reduced significantly, for maize crop, for instance, from 5.2 thousand ha in 2000 to 3.9 thousand ha in 2009. The decline of sweet potato areas was from 7.7 thousand ha to 1.8 thousand ha in the same period (Hai Duong Statistics Office 2001, 2010).

The main reasons for the decline of the winter crop cultivation are the movement of active agricultural labours to off-farm jobs and the increasing attacks of pests and diseases. Farmers explained that it is difficult for them to develop the winter crop by themselves, without other households’ crops, due to the high vulnerability to the increasing damage from diseases or pests (especially mice herds) and the unfavourable irrigation system. Consequently, most areas of the rice fields in Cam Giang district and other regions of Hai Duong province and the Red river delta are abandoned in winter, causing a negative impact on the development of animal production.

Dynamics of selected livestock production systems at the farm level

Changes in land use system

At the farm level, the dynamics of livestock production systems were analyzed by the changes of production scale and management over time. The evolution of rice land and fish pond areas of two main livestock production systems was presented in table 1.

The most vital priority of farming households was to develop fish and livestock production rather than rice cultivation because rice was only grown for family consumption, not for sale purpose. Thus, it was observed that fish pond areas increased significantly from 1993 to 2010 in both systems (table 1). The 1993 land law and the land conversion policy facilitated farmers to accumulate their land by long-term renting from common pools or buying more surfaces from their neighbours. The high profit from fish production at that time was considered as the major driving forces for the land expansion of most households. Thus, the good land accumulation is one of the most important conditions for them to invest in the specialized intensive livestock production system. The households that can not afford to access to large land areas applied the diversified livestock-fish-crop system.

Changes in the livestock population

The population of livestock flocks is often influenced by various factors, including household production resources and environmental conditions. Here, the number of animals kept by farm households, which shown in table 2, is referred to the average animal heads per production cycle in selected years.

There are two different development trends of animal herd between two systems. The herd size in the specialized livestock-fish system has increased significantly across the years, especially in the period of 2003-2010 (table 2). Most of the farms tried to develop their production scale during these years due to the good accumulation of land and financial capital. Having more land, especially fish pond areas, is of great importance for households to increase the animal herd size because of the efficient combination between livestock production and fish culture. Large surfaces of fish ponds required a high amount of animal manure and waste as one of the most important organic fertilizers for the pond. Moreover, the high profit from fish production enabled them to build more buildings for animals

On the contrary, households that have small fish pond areas and the limited financial capital applied the diversified livestock-fish-crop system with a small or medium size of animal herd. Over some last years, the animal population has not increased significantly. They often adjust their animal herd size to the fluctuation of price of animal products in the market. For example, during the spring or autumn, when the consumption demand for food of animal origin is higher than that in summer or winter, farmers often increase the animal flock size in order to sell the product at a high price. By contrast, if the price decreases or the animal infectious epidemics break out, they will reduce or stop to raise animals. This strategy helps them to avoid risks from the environment and to be more resilient.

Some major constraints facing livestock farms

The future evolution of livestock production systems is greatly related to the major constraints that are facing most producers in the region. Therefore, understanding of these challenges is important for policy makers to design appropriate development policies towards the sustainable livestock production.

The extreme dependence on purchased feed and the increase of price of animal feed

In general, the industrial concentrated feed is used more and more commonly in the animal production in Vietnam. This kind of feed is considered as a more balanced compound than that of the on-farm mixture. It is also convenient for farmers to feed different livestock species at alternative growing ages. The well-developed supplying system of the animal feed from wholesalers to retailers or even directly to the farm gate encourages producers to use it more for their animal herds.

The problem is that producers depend more and more on the purchased animal feed, including the industrial concentrated feed and the grains such as maize and rice. The decline of cereal crop cultivation, especially maize and soybean causes the limitation of food self-supplying ability of the farms. At the regional and national level, the limited supply of these raw materials to animal feed companies leads to the increase of the imported amount. In 2008, for instance, the imported amount of each material was estimated by 40-45% of feed grains, 70-75% of protein meals, 95% of minerals and vitamins, and 95-100% of other feed additives (colourings and flavours) (Giao 2009). That is one of the most important reasons for the rapid increase of the animal feed price in the market. The price of most animal feed in Vietnam was 5-8% higher than that of neighbouring countries (Giao 2009). The annual price of the concentrated feed for growing pigs recorded by farmers in Hai Duong illustrated a rapid increase in recent years ( Figure 3).

Figure 3.The fluctuation of price of the concentrated feed for growing pigs (Source: Annual records at the animal farm of Ms. Pham Thi May, in Cam Hoang commune)

The strong instability of the input price in the market, especially the increase of price of industrial concentrated feed, is graded as one of the most important reasons for the high cost of livestock production of many farms. The calculation of production cost for 100kg live pigs showed a high proportion of cost of animal feed, especially the concentrated feed, in the total cost of production of fattening pigs ( Figure 4).

Figure 4. High proportion of cost of animal feed (cost per 100kg live pigs) (Source: Household surveys, 2010)

Threats from animal infectious epidemics and the environmental pollution

The disease prevention and treatment play an important role in the animal husbandry. The importance of disease prevention is emphasized within the context of serious threats from infectious epidemics and in a dense animal population region like Hai Duong province. Although the vaccination program is frequently implemented by the provincial veterinary department, several infectious epidemics and other diseases have occurred and been transmitted repeatedly in pigs, poultry herds and fish such as avian influenza, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), food and mount disease, etc. It causes enormous losses of many farms and the disappearance of small and medium ones. In Tan Truong commune, for example, 205 heads of pigs (mostly growing pigs) were died because of first outbreak of PRRS in 2010, equals to 7.170 kg live pigs. In Cam Hoang commune, about 13.000 kg of live pigs were lost during the first attack of PRRS in 2010 (Cam Giang’s Veterinary Department 2011).

This problem relates strongly to the awareness and practices of farmers in preventing and treating diseases. Farmers in the intensive livestock-fish production system have more experience of animal husbandry and veterinary techniques than those of the livestock-fish-crop production one. They were also trained by the technician from the feed or veterinary medicine companies or staff of veterinary departments ( Figure 4). Thus, they prevent the animals from diseases quite well by applying an appropriate vaccination program and a good hygiene condition of the farm. They can also treat effectively some animal diseases by themselves without external assistances.

Figure 5. Distribution of frequency of households by the participation in technical training courses of household heads (Source: Household surveys, 2010)

By contrast, farmers in the livestock-fish-crop production system usually learn the treatment methods of the animal diseases from their neighbours or from the veterinary medicine retailers. A high proportion of producers have not participated in any technical training course yet ( Figure 5). Some of them even cannot apply the knowledge and skills learned to animal practices because of inappropriate techniques, leading to the inefficient disease prevention and treatment. They also do not pay much attention to the vaccination program or hygiene condition of the farms. Thus, the animal flocks are more vulnerable to the epidemics.

Furthermore, the fish diseases also occurred widely in many farms because of polluted water. The intensive fish culture, which used more purchased inputs and shorter production cycle, seems to be one of the reasons for the disease outbreak. The excessive discharge of animal wastes (manure and liquid wastes) to fish ponds resulted in the water pollution. Farmers also pointed out the pollutant from the industry factories around their farms. The water from river around the industrial zone becomes more and more polluted due to the poor treatment techniques of waste water of the companies. Farmers can easily realize the pollution level of the water when it is pumped from the river to the fish ponds. It directly harms the fish in ponds and drinking water of pigs and poultry.

Which development strategies are appropriate for the sustainable development of livestock production systems?

Improvement of the use of local resources and wastes as feed for animals

The rapid increase of price of industrial concentrated feed demonstrates the significance for the small-scale animal farms to be independent from the purchased input supply through highly utilizing the existing local resources as feed for animals. To achieve this goal, the local government should make an attempt to encourage farm holders, especially the small and medium animal farms, to develop the cereal grain production in the winter season, like that in the previous decade, to supplement the animal diet with on-farm produced feed. The development of winter crops will not only provide an important proportion of local resources as on-farm produced feed for the small and medium farms but also the available raw materials for the animal feed factories. Therefore, this strategy will be highly sustainable although the industrial livestock production system is now becoming more popular in Hai Duong and other regions of the Red river delta.

To achieve this goal, a wide range of solutions should be taken into account in making development policies. Firstly, the reorganization and redistribution of agricultural land areas are necessary for producers to have a large enough land surface to cultivate maize, soybean, and other winter crops. The large areas of agricultural land are also the principal condition for farmers to mechanize their crop production. Secondly, the propaganda and manipulation campaigns will be a useful method like many local authorities did successfully in the past. The participation of the social organizations of civil society is also so meaningful due to their political ascendancy and credibility. Thirdly, the agricultural cooperatives of the commune have to improve the quality of their services of irrigation and drainage activities and pest management, especially the prevention method of mouse attacks. Fourthly, the agricultural extension station of each commune and district should enhance the efficiency of training programs and the supply of the hybrid seed corn to farm households. To motivate producers, the local government may consider to subsidy partly to crop growers through the seed price like the case of some types of hybrid rice seed. With all the above attempts, the diversification of cropping systems through expanding the cultivation areas of maize and other cereal crops in the winter season is expected to be implemented widely by many households and to help reduce the cost of feed of animal production.

Improvement of the technical knowledge and skills of producers through diversified assistance activities

In some recent years, one of the biggest challenges that most of the livestock-fish farms have faced are the threat from the animal infectious epidemics. Among the reasons for this problem, the insufficient knowledge and skills of animal production and veterinary medicine of many farmers, especially the smallholders, are considered as the main causes. The technical assistance through diversified activities is important to solve this problem.

Diversification and improvement of technical training programs, especially about veterinary medicine, are now in great demand of most animal keepers in Hai Duong province. The discussions with producers reveal that the technical assistance activities should be diversified through regular training programs and direct guidelines on animal disease prevention and treatment by staff of both the governmental organizations and the private companies. The supportive policies should give priority to improve the knowledge and skills of the local veterinarian who will take responsibility to guide farmers and to diagnose the outbreak of epidemics in the local region.

Moreover, the development of the veterinary medicine supply chain is also in need of support. The effective supports of the common veterinary medicine cabinet in Cam Hoang commune will be a good example as the lesson for others. This association helps to provide local farmers with medicine and consultants about disease prevention and treatment. The members of this association have more chances to discuss and exchange each other about knowledge and experiences of animal production and veterinary practices. The local government should support for the development of this kind of association to increase the awareness and skills of animal keepers in the animal husbandry and disease control.

Conclusions

• The livestock production systems in Hai Duong province has evolved significantly from a traditional small-scale system in 1980s into a specialized intensive system now. The important dynamics of livestock farms is the movement from the homestead land to the rice fields due to the program of rice land conversion into fish ponds and animal buildings in 1990s and 2000s. However, the rapid increase of price of purchased inputs, especially concentrated feed, and the repeated occurrence of animal infectious epidemics in some recent years made it difficult for farmers to develop their production systems.
  
  
• To deal with these constraints, the development policy should place emphasis on the promotion of the use of renewable resources, which are available in the local region, and on the improvement of animal keepers’ awareness and skills in animal production and disease management. Development of cereal grain production, especially winter crops, is thus very important for farmers to avoid the dependence on the purchased feed and to limit the negative impact of the increasing price of animal feed in the market on the animal production. In order to achieve this goal, together with the supports from the government, there is in need of the participation of local organisations of civil society to propagandize producers to develop the cereal grain production. Moreover, to limit the attack of animal epidemics and to increase the productivity and economic efficiency of animal production, diversified technical assistance should be implemented regularly and efficiently by both veterinarian and private company staff. The enhancement of some kinds of farmer association in which producers can easily share experience and information each other will be one of the most effective ways to develop a sustainable livestock production in future. The government intervention should focus on supporting this kind of association and on persuading the dynamic participation of animal keepers in this kind of association.

References

Cam Hoang’s People Committee 2005 Socio-economic development of Cam Hoang commune in the period of 1991-2005, Cam Hoang’s People Committee.

Cam Giang's Veterinary Department 2011 Report on PRRS outbreak in Cam Giang district in 2010, Cam Giang People Committee.

Giao H K 2009 The Development of Vietnam’s Animal Production Sector in Integration Perspective. Hanoi, Agricultural Publishing House. Hanoi

GSO 2009 “Current Land Use by region in 2009”. From http://www.gso.gov.vn/default.aspx?tabid=386&idmid=3&ItemID=9835.

Hai Duong Statistics Office 2001 Hai Duong statistical Yearbook 2000. Hanoi, Statistical Publishing House.Hanoi

Hai Duong People's Committee 2008 Geography of Hai Duong province. Ha Noi, National Political Publishing House.Ha Noi

Hai Duong’s People Committee 2008 Resolution on Agricultural Production Planning towards 2015 and 2020, Hai Duong Leagal Documents. No 91/2008/NQ-HĐND.

Hai Duong Industry and Trade Department 2009 "Bổ sung 10 Khu công nghiệp tỉnh Hải Dương vào Quy hoạch phát triển các Khu công nghiệp (10 additional industrial parks  are planning in the development of industrial parks of Hai Duong province). Retrieved 16/7/2012, 2009, from http://haiduongintrade.vn/news/content/viewer.html?a=1253&z=170.

Hai Duong Statistics Office 2010 Hai Duong Statistical Yearbook 2009. Hanoi, Statistical Publishing House.Hanoi

Received 24 May 2013; Accepted 19 July 2013; Published 4 September 2013

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