Forage legumes for supplementing village pigs in Lao PDR

The project has made good progress towards achieving its objectives.

Objective 1: The project team developed a sound understanding of the constraints and productivity of village pig production systems in Laos during the first year of the project. Two studies contributed to our better understanding. The first study explored the impact of feeding Stylosanthes guianensis CIAT 184 (Stylo) to village pigs. It showed that feeding of fresh Stylo to pigs had two important benefits. The first was that Stylo supplementation increased the average daily gain of growing pigs from 107 to 207 g per day. The second impact was a saving of time for collecting and cooking naturally-occurring leafy plants as pig feed. For farmers who had plenty of Stylo the time needed to feed pigs was reduced from over 3 hours to 1.5 hours per day as Stylo could be used instead of naturally occurring green feeds. The collection of feed and preparation of feeds was, in most households, the task of women and reducing the time needed to carry out this task has been greatly appreciated. The second study was a broader survey of village pig production systems. The survey showed that there are three main pig production systems in the uplands of Laos: (1) Free scavenging system; (2) Confining pigs in enclosures; and (3) Penning. The type of system employed was related to the purpose of raising pigs and ethnicity of the producers. The two main purposes of raising pigs (all native breeds) were: (1) Piglet production and (2) Fattening pigs. The main feeds were rice bran, maize, cassava, broken rice and green feed occurring naturally. Almost all producers reported that they fed rice bran and some green feed (fresh leaves) to their pigs. In Lao-loum villages (lowland rice producers), producers fed mainly rice bran, sometimes mixed with broken rice or brewery waste (rice grain) and green feeds. Maize and cassava were used by most Hmong producers, while Khmu producers used maize and some cassava. Labour requirements for collecting and cooking feed were 3 hours per day and the average daily gain of growing pigs was 110 g per day.

Objective 2: An international workshop was held in Luang Phabang from 12-14 June 2006 to review the current state of knowledge of smallholder pig production and identify critical research issues. The workshop concluded that the traditional diet was severely deficient in supplying protein. Thus adding even small amounts of protein through Stylo had big effects. The main research needs identified were (i) Collection and chemical analysis of traditional feeds, (ii) Establish the growth rate and protein deposition of local pigs, (iii) Determine the digestibility of Stylo in a feeding trial, (iv) Evaluate other forage legumes in terms of nutritive value (chemical analysis) and suitability for smallholder farming systems, and (v) Determine the voluntary feed intake and performance of pigs fed fresh or dried Stylo. The first two of these research activities were started in 2006. A list of common local feeds was assembled and samples were collected and sent for chemical analysis. Results are expected in early 2007. The second activity was an experiment to determine the growth rate and nutritional requirements of Moo lat. Five feed intake levels of a well-balanced diet, ranging from an ad. lib. diet group to a restricted intake diet limiting feed intake to 60% of the ad lib group. Although not yet completed, by the end of December average growth rates ranged from 611 g/day for the ad. lib treatment group to 325 g/day for the 60% restricted intake treatment group. This clearly demonstrates the good growth potential of local pigs; there clearly is great potential for improvement.

Objective 3: The project formed a development alliance with development practitioners from NGOs, local government and development projects. The rationale was to accept that we are scientists rather than development practitioners and that the only way for us to contribute to significant development outcomes is to work closely with practitioners from the development sector. Clearly, there are benefits for both sides with the development practitioners getting access to research results and we are getting feedback on what is needed by the development practitioners. The project has established such an alliance and, after more than 6 months of collaboration, we are enthusiastic about the approach and benefits that are emerging. The NGOs, in particular, are very enthusiastic and appreciative of the inputs provided by project staff, and the project is very grateful for feedback on issues encountered by the development practitioners in scaling out Stylo for supplementation of village pigs. By the end of 2006, the project and its partners worked with more than 380 farmers.

The second year of the project consolidated activities and built on both research results and feedback from farmers and development partners. Overall, progress was excellent and the project is well placed to achieve its stated objectives. There are now more that 1000 farm households that grow and use the forage legume Stylo to supplement pig diets. Women have been the main beneficiaries of growing and feeding the forage legume Stylo to pigs in fattening systems. Looking forward, project partners have identified opportunities to accelerate and broaden the impact of the project.

Objective 1: Completed in year 1.

Objective 2: Collection of samples of common pig feeds continued and samples were sent to Australia for chemical analysis. The project intends to publish this information in the form of nutritional tables, as a resource for formulating more balanced pig diets. A range of new forage legumes with known high protein, low fibre and environmental adaptation to northern Laos were grown and evaluated by farmer groups at two sites. Feed samples were harvested for chemical analysis in Australia.

In addition, farmers evaluated these legumes in terms of growth, palatability and suitability for pig feeding. Farmers selected the legumes Vigna unguiculata CIAT 10696, Stylosanthes guianensis 'composite' and 'Stylo 184' (our control), Aeschynomene histrix BRA9690, and Arachis pintoi CIAT 18744 as worthy of further evaluation. Several tree legumes were also included but not selected in the first year of evaluation because of their slow rate of establishment. These may emerge as potential feed at a later stage. In 2008, the selected legumes will be evaluated by more farmers at a larger range of sites.

Two in-vivo experiments examining Stylo supplementation were carried out during the reporting period. These were a study of in-vivo digestibility of Stylo 184, which was carried out at QDPI in Australia by John Kopinski and Soukhanh Keonouchanh, and a feeding experiment investigating a range of Stylo supplementation at the Livestock Research Center, NAFRI in Laos. The results showed that Stylo is a good source of protein for pigs but fibre content increases rapidly as plants mature and this limits its usefulness. This result agrees with feedback from farmers who found that harvesting Stylo very frequently - every 2-3 weeks during the growing season - maximises growth of pigs. Using older Stylo provides little benefit in terms of growth. This needs to be further confirmed and quantified in feeding experiments.

Project partners and extension workers were introduced to the concept of conducting simple experiments together with interested farmers in target villages - Village Learning Activities (VLA) - which allowed farmers and extension workers to evaluate new technologies. VLA compared current farmers' practices with new technologies and these were found to be useful tools for increasing the capacity of farmers (and extension workers) to evaluate new ideas and to share the results and experiences with other interested farmers in their villages. The combination of formal experiments to quantify effects and VLA as a learning tool for farmers and extension workers has worked very well for the project.

Objective 3: In 2006, the project invited nine NGOs and development projects and three district extension services in northern Laos to form a development / learning alliance with our project. The intention was to bring researchers and development practitioners together and work towards improving village pig production, with particular emphasis on scaling out Stylo supplementation.

The development alliance partners have met every 6 months to discuss results, share experiences and develop plans for joint activities. Approximately 35-40 participants attended each workshop with many having participated in all workshops. As part of these workshops, training sessions were arranged on topics requested by alliance partners. These included topics such as participatory approaches, pig nutrition, Stylo agronomy and seed production, pig management and health. The project also developed extension material on technical issues and technologies such as pig nutrition, Stylo supplementation, feed trough and pen design, and quarantine pens.

In addition to 6-monthly workshops, the project actively linked NGOs and development projects with the most experienced district extension workers from Luang Phabang and Xieng Khouang to provide mentoring, on-site training and management of cross visits. The aim was to encourage the development of formal and informal communication links between development practitioners that will continue to function well beyond the life of this Project.

Based on feedback from alliance partners the original target of at least 1000 farmers growing and using Stylo for pigs was exceeded by the end of 2007. Stylo is a simple, low-input technology within reach of farmers who do not have financial investment resources. Once Stylo is established, the labour requirement (mostly the responsibility of women) for feeding pigs is significantly reduced and growth rate of pigs doubles. These are strong incentives for adopting Stylo, although it needs to be recognised that Stylo may be a transient technology with farmers moving to more nutrient-dense feeds as they further intensify production systems and become more market-oriented. At the moment, Stylo plays a pivotal role in enabling this transition. The extent of adoption and the resulting impacts will be documented in more detail towards the end of the project.

One emerging issue is the generally poor manure and effluent management associated with more intensive pig production. There is a danger of effluents polluting local streams, although at this stage the production units are quite small and so do not yet constitute a major hazard. The manure from pig pens could be seen as a nutrient resource that needs to be exploited. Some discussions have been held to introduce the idea of composting and use of manure and effluent as a valuable nutrient source. This needs to be further explored and developed.

Objective 4: Will be carried out in year 3.