Farmers’ perception on use of forages in Bavi District Dinh Van Binh, Ngo Tien Dzung and Nguyen Thi Mui

 Area: 421 km 2 (80% of sloping land)  Agriculture land: 14,900 ha (planting crops: 12,100 ha)  Unused land : 8,000 ha  Population: 233,000 inhabitants (32 villages)  Animal population (heads):  Pigs82,543  Buffaloes11,200  Cattle16,860  Goats1,037  Poultry271,000  Capital income: 70 USD/year Introduction

Diagram of transferring technologies to farmers GRRC Research On-farm On-station Demonstrations Farmers in Bavi Farmers in provinces Technologies transfer

How to transfer technologies to the farmers ?  Establishing the demonstrations at the Research Centre and in farm households around the Research Centre.  Organizing visits, seminar workshops on research and extension of new technologies  Making video-films illustrating new technologies of dairy goat production, crop planting, installation of biodigesters in sustainable farming system.  Selection of places and farmers to apply the new technologies, cooperation with the Women’s Union and Extension Divisions in the management of the location.  Training courses for extensionists and farmers on new technologies before transferring them to farmers.  Support for farmers with improved animal breeds and planting materials of promising varieties for increasing feed resources for animals  Helping farmers to solve problems or finding the market for consumption of their products

Edible biomass yield from forage species (tonnes/ha/year) BiomassDry matter Crude protein Flemingia macrophylla Trichanthera gigantea Leucaena hybrid KX L. leucocephalla K L. Pallinda K Mulberry (Morus alba) Bananas (pure stand) Trichanthera gigantea in association with banana P.Pupurceum P.M. likoni B. ruziziensis M. esculanta Root Leaves

Comparison of economic efficiency between two farming system (mean for household, million VND) __________________________________________________________ ProductionTraditional systemNew system Income Profit %Income Profit % ___________________________________________________________ Pig Local cow Local goat Fish pond (m 2 ) Cassava (m 2 ) Sugar cane (m 2 ) Garden (m 2 ) Biogas Total

Income of farmers (VND/month/person) Farmers No of goatsTraditionalNew system ,000388, ,000505, ,000391, ,000491, ,000187, ,000249, ,000293, ,000204, ,000215, ,000473, ,000382, ,000215,000 Average16245,583332,750

Conclusions  Research activities and transfer technologies have been carrying since 1991 up to now to farmers, which show potential value of multi-purpose crops and forages which can be used for animal feeding and improving the soil fertility  The productivity of animals has increased when using protein-rich foliages with diets based on agricultural by-products  Increase the economic efficiency of livestock production using the new cultivated forages and processing techniques based on feed resources in suitable farming system of the farm  Increasing the number of farmers applying the new technologies, the number of participating farmers as the demonstrations increased yearly from 5 (1991) to 35 (1997) to 320 (2000)