Agrifood chain toolkit conference fosters interactions between value chain researchers and practitioners

In this blog post, ILRI agro-economist Jo Cadilhon reflects on a recent conference in Kampala, Uganda that brought together agricultural and livestock value chain researchers and practitioners. The participatory approach of the conference fostered exchange of information and helped the participants learn from each other's experiences. 

Plenary storytelling at the agrifood chain toolkit conference on livestock and fish value chains in East Africa held at Kampala, Uganda on 9-11 September 2013 (photo credit: ILRI/Megapix). 

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) organized the first Agrifood Chain Toolkit Conference in Kampala from 9 to 11 September 2013. The objective of the meeting was to gather researchers of value chains and practitioners developing value chains in the field so as to foster feedback from the practitioners on the analysis tools developed by researchers.

The meeting also meant to raise the awareness of practitioners on analytical tools available that could help solve their problems of value chain field development.

This whole initiative was undertaken to contribute to the Value Chain Clearinghouse activity of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets. This first conference was focused on livestock and fish chains so as to tap on ILRI’s expertise and partners within the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish.

As one of the organizers of the event, I would like to reflect on it with the viewpoint of a value chain researcher. I also reflected on the lessons I learned from the conference with a livestock and fish value chain developer’s viewpoint. Short videos are also available showcasing the reflections of the conference participants and of the organizers.

The concept of an Agrifood Chain Toolkit Conference is built around 'No PowerPoint'. This is meant to foster interaction between participants. This can seem a bit off-putting for researchers who are used to presenting their work under this widespread format.

However, as the editor of the conference coordinating the review of contributions submitted, I was very clear that contributors had to find an alternative way of presenting their work. Many researchers opted for posters instead.

Our ILRI facilitator Ewen Le Borgne made a wonderful job of getting everybody involved into discussions through a series of various activities. After the usual icebreaker to let all 58 participants have an idea of who else was in the room, we heard two stories in plenary.

The first was told by a value chain practitioner on the problems he had faced developing dairy value chains in Zimbabwe. The second was beamed live from Nairobi with my colleague Hikuepi (Epi) Katjiuongua telling us about the development and adaptation of the Livestock and Fish Value Chain Toolkit.

We then gave the opportunity to value chain researchers in the room to present their tools and methods for value chain analysis to the rest of the participants through a mini-sharefair.

All presenters had a corner in the room where they could present and discuss their work with other participants who would roam through the room according to their interest. This part of the meeting did not work quite well.

Perhaps because the main interest of the participants at that time of the day was to enjoy morning tea and snacks. Those were served outside the conference room despite our specification to the venue staff to serve those within the room. Understandably, some of the researchers felt a bit frustrated to see their work was attracting less interest than tea and snacks.

The rest of the first day was used to learn from the experiences of value chain practitioners: their stories allowed the researchers to get a better grasp of the problems they were facing to develop value chains in the field.

On the second day, all participants divided into five small groups to go visit five different value chains: two pig value chains, two dairy value chains and one farmed fish value chain.

This allowed value chain researchers to get an even closer understanding of the problems faced by value chain practitioners. It was also an opportunity to undertake quick-field testing of some of the questionnaire tools ILRI had developed in its Livestock and Fish Value Chain Toolkit.

On the third and final day of the conference, the researchers were now better aware of all the different problems faced by value chain practitioners who were also participating in the conference.

So Ewen and I gave the researchers another chance to market their value chain analysis tools and methods knowing the types of issues that had been discussed on the first day and the real-life problems encountered during the field visits.

A second iteration of the mini-sharefair on value chain tools and methods followed. This one was a greater success because the researchers had been able to customize their marketing pitch to attract visitors to their display using the language and keywords that they had heard being used by the value chain practitioners, and by mentioning that their methods and tools could actually contribute to solving some of the real-life problems they had heard and seen during the past two days.

The interactions between researchers and practitioners were then very lively with several practitioners coming one after the other to see researchers who had tools that could help solve their problems.

There were many expressions of interest to use some of these tools in new contexts through research-for-development projects still to be constructed. Most fulfilling, I heard many value chain practitioners saying they could use some of the tools themselves if those were made available to them and would report back on how they were used and the difficulties faced to adapt them to their own context.

This strong interaction and feedback process between value chain researchers and value chain practitioners was exactly what the Agrifood Chain Toolkit Conference was meant to foster. More such conferences will follow focusing on other commodities in other regions.

To stay informed about future events, register to the Agrifood chain toolkit online discussion group.

Jo Cadilhon, Senior Agro-economist, Policy, Trade and Value Chains Program, ILRI

ILRI presents at the 28th International Conference of Agricultural Economists

Cattle being watered at the Ghibe River in southwestern Ethiopia. The country's livestock sector supports the livelihoods of a large proportion of rural households (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann).

On 18-24 August 2012, some 1000 agricultural economics experts from around the world met in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil for the 28th triennial International Conference of Agricultural Economists. The conference was organized by the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).

Under the theme, The Global Bio-Economy, the conference discussed several global challenges affecting the bio-economy, including food insecurity, natural resource management and food price crises, and possible ways of addressing these challenges.

A team of researchers from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) attended the meeting and presented papers on various aspects of agricultural economics in developing countries, including the role of livestock in the Ethiopian economy, the competitiveness of smallholder pig producers in Vietnam and economic impact assessment of avian influenza control measures in Nigeria.

Other presentations covered the opportunities for intra-regional trade in staple food crops in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region, the effects of decentralized forest management on household farm forestry in Kenya and the Gender, Agriculture and Assets Project, a research initiative jointly led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and ILRI aimed at better understanding gender and asset dynamics in agricultural development programs.

ILRI project offers solutions for improving smallholder pig production in western Kenya

A smallholder pig farmer in western Kenya: Findings from an ILRI-led study  will help to improve feeding practices and  sow productivity on smallholder pig farms in western Kenya (photo credit: ILRI).

Small-scale pig farming in western Kenya is an important source of family income. Pigs kept are of local breeds that are either tethered or left free to scavenge for food. However, one of the main challenges that pig farmers in western Kenya face is inadequate feed supply.

From 2007 to 2009, a collaborative project led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) carried out research towards improving pig production and health in smallholder farms in western Kenya.

The project has recently published two journal articles, one featuring a descriptive study of smallholder pig feeding practices (Tropical Animal Health and Production, January 2012) and the other highlighting the results of a baseline study on the productivity of local sows (African Journal of Agricultural Research, December 2011).

The findings of the descriptive study of 164 pig farms in Busia District revealed the need for more research on the nutrient composition of the identified local feeds. Additionally, there is need to develop and validate simple combinations of local feeds to formulate balanced feed rations that smallholder farmers can afford.

The baseline study, which was carried out in Busia and Kakamega Districts, assessed the reproductive performance of local sows, investigated the challenges faced by the farmers, and explored opportunities for improving small-scale production of breeding pigs. The baseline data will be useful in identifying key intervention areas and exploring opportunities for improvement in the sector.

The project was undertaken in partnership with the University of Guelph, the University of Nairobi, and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.

Other outputs from the project have been featured in two earlier posts on this blog:

• New study calls for better training of local pig farmers in western Kenya to boost profits 
• No more guesswork: Tool developed for better prediction of live weights of local pigs in western Kenya 

Citations
Mutua FK, Dewey C, Arimi S, Ogara W, Levy M and Schelling E. 2012. A description of local pig feeding systems in village smallholder farms of Western Kenya. Tropical Animal Health and Production, Online First 5 January 2012, doi 10.1007/s11250-011-0052-6

Mutua FK, Dewey CE, Arimi SM, Schelling E, Ogara WO and Levy M. 2011. Reproductive performance of sows in rural communities of Busia and Kakamega Districts, Western Kenya. African Journal of Agricultural Research 6(31): 6485-6491.

ILRI develops training manuals towards improving quality of pig production and marketing in Northeast India

A farmer feeds her pigs in Nagaland, India. ILRI has produced training manuals to help small-scale pig farmers,  veterinary practitioners and pork traders in Northeast India improve farm productivity and product quality (photo credit: ILRI/Mann).

Small-scale pig production and marketing play important roles in contributing to the livelihoods of poor tribal populations that live in Northeast India.

A 2008 study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) characterized the pig sub-sector in Nagaland, Northeast India and found that the region is home to over a quarter of India's total pig population. Here, 80-90% of tribal communities keep 2-3 pigs, mostly under traditional production systems.

However, the traditional methods of pig production are constrained by lack of management inputs like quality feeds and preventive animal health services. This often leads to low productivity and poor quality of pork products.

Towards improving the quality of pig production and marketing, ILRI's Asia Office and Capacity Strengthening Unit joined hands with national research partners in India to develop three training manuals on smallholders' pig management, veterinary first aid for pigs, and hygienic pork production and marketing.

The manuals are aimed at enhancing the capacity of pig producers, veterinary practitioners and pork traders, respectively, to transform subsistence pig production into small-scale commercial farming that satisfies growing consumer demand for quality and safety.

"It is expected that the implementation of training programs based on these manuals will help to improve productivity and provision of animal health care, and build knowledge and awareness on hygienic pork selling which in turn will improve profitability and livelihoods of smallholder pig producers and pork traders," said Dr Purvi Mehta Bhatt, Head of ILRI's Capacity Strengthening Unit. 

Participatory risk analysis: a new method for managing food safety in developing countries

A Vietnamese pork seller in a traditional 'wet' market: Participatory risk assessment can help to manage risk in food value chains in developing countries (photo credit: ILRI).

Food safety is a major concern in many developing countries where the informal ('traditional') sector dominates production and sale of food products and there are generally high levels of unsafe food.

Risk analysis – comprising risk assessment, risk management and risk communication – has emerged as a novel approach to assessing and managing risks in food value chains within developing-country contexts.

As opposed to the more 'traditional' approach of food safety management that focuses on food-borne hazards, participatory risk analysis focuses instead on risk, that is, the likelihood of occurrence of a hazard and the economic consequences, and how best that risk can be mitigated to provide consumers with assurance of food safety and quality.

At the recently concluded seventh international conference of the Asian Society of Agricultural Economists held on 13-15 October 2011 in Hanoi, Vietnam, the subject of participatory risk assessment featured during a parallel session, Food safety policy in developing country context: examples from case studies in livestock value chains, organized by agricultural economist Dr Lucy Lapar of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

The parallel session featured three presentations by scientists from ILRI's Market Opportunities theme on participatory risk assessment studies of the pork value chain in Nagaland, India; the dairy supply chain in Assam, India and the pork value chain in peri-urban Hanoi, Vietnam.

While each of the three studies had different objectives, they all used the common framework of participatory risk assessment to examine the risks to human health in livestock product value chains.

Risk-based food safety policies and regulations; increased consumer awareness on risk-mitigating practices (for example, boiling of raw milk before drinking it); and training and certification of informal sector pork and milk sellers are among the recommendations drawn from the studies. The Nagaland study also recommended the assessment of the economic impact of pork-borne disease on people and the pork sector.


You may also be interested in:
Risk assessment in the pork meat chain in Nagaland, India (Poster)

Innovative and participatory risk-based approaches to assess milk-safety in developing countries: a case study in North East India (Conference paper)

Participatory risk assessment of pork in Ha Noi and Ha Tay, Vietnam (Research Brief)

ILRI project offers viable solutions to rising pork prices in Vietnam

Farmer Ma Thi Puong feeds her pigs on her farm near the northern town of Meo Vac, Vietnam: Policies that address supply constraints faced by both small and large pig farmers in Vietnam can help in long-term solutions to the rising prices of pork and live pigs. (Photo credit: ILRI/Mann).

Rising consumer demand for pork, high cost of animal feed and ineffcient value chains have led to skyrocketing prices of pork and live pigs in Vietnam. Within the first half of 2011 alone, the cost of pork and live pigs doubled in the principal urban markets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

As policymakers seek long-term solutions towards boosting domestic supply of pork to meet the sustained consumer demand, research findings by scientists from the Market Opportunities theme of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) can help in pointing the way to viable solutions to the current food price crisis.

Findings from a three-year (2007-2010) Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)-funded ILRI-led collaborative project, Improving competitiveness of smallholder pig producers in an adjusting Vietnam market, suggest that both small-scale and large-scale pig producers should be targeted in a strategy for expanding domestic pork supply in Vietnam, considering that prices are likely to remain high in the long run on account of pork being a key ingredient in the Vietnamese diet.

These and other findings are highlighted in an article by Nguyen Do Anh Tuan of Vietnam's Centre for Agricultural Policy and Lucy Lapar of ILRI published in the 22-28 August 2011 issue of Vietnam Investment Review, Vietnam's leading weekly international business newspaper.

Previous interventions by the Vietnam government have tended to ignore small-scale farmers, focusing instead on developing large-scale farms to address supply constraints such as rising feed prices, losses from diseases and inefficiencies in pork value chain.

However, research findings based on a pig sector model for Vietnam suggest that large-scale pig farms will make a minimal contribution to supply in both the short- and long- term. Indeed, the majority small-scale farms were found to be better able to adapt to volatile prices in feed markets, hence creating efficiencies in these systems.

Therefore, focusing on large-scale farms and ignoring the majority of small-scale farms and their constraints will not result in long-term efficiency gains, the study concluded.

"The focus should be on addressing causes of constraints to productivity growth, such as disease outbreaks, rising feed prices, efficient system for replacement of breeding stocks and improving pork value chain performance," the article's authors suggest.

"Policies that will provide incentives to generate new technological breakthroughs and appropriate institutions to support these would likely to be more effective options," the authors add.

The project collaborators were the Centre for Agricultural Policy - Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development (CAP-IPSARD), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Oxfam Hong Kong and the University of Queensland.

Read the complete article from the Vietnam Investment Review

For more information, please contact Dr Lucy Lapar of ILRI (l.lapar @ cgiar.org), visit the project website or read the project publications.

You may also be interested in these past blog posts on Livestock Markets Digest

• In the news: Director of ILRI's market opportunities theme interviewed on Vietnam agriculture TV channel (December 2010)
• ILRI project poster wins top prize at European College of Veterinary Public Health annual conference (October 2010)
• In the news: ILRI-led research on smallholder pig producers features in Vietnam News (October 2010)
• Vietnam pork sector study featured in New Agriculturist (February 2010)

Ecohealth approaches can improve food safety management in Vietnam

Pork seller at a market in Vietnam: One Health and Ecohealth approaches can improve the management of food safety and zoonotic diseases in Vietnam. (Photo credit: ILRI).

Food safety is a major concern for the government of Vietnam. According to the World Health Organization Representative Office in Vietnam, the human costs of food-borne diseases, lost production from diseases and related market losses surpass USD 1 billion per year, an amount equivalent to 2% of Vietnam's Gross Domestic Product.

The topic of food safety management in Vietnam featured at the Second Food Safety and Zoonoses Symposium for Asia Pacific that was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand on 21-22 July 2011.

A presentation by Dr Hung Nguyen-Viet of the Hanoi School of Public Health, Vietnam and researchers from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) considered the challenges, costs and benefits of One Health and Ecohealth approaches to food safety in Vietnam.

Ecohealth and One Health approaches assume that human, livestock, wildlife and environmental health are integrally related.

The presentation also highlighted a number of food safety research projects by ILRI in Vietnam, including the project on ecosystem approaches to the better management of zoonotic emerging infectious diseases in Southeast Asia which is coordinated Dr Jeffrey Gilbert, a veterinary epidemiologist with ILRI’s research team on animal health, food safety and zoonoses.

Linking research and management of food safety within One health/ecohealth context in Vietnam: Concepts and applications

View more presentations from ILRI

Citation
Nguyen-Viet H, Grace D, Lapar ML, Unger F, McDermott J and Gilbert J. 2011. Linking research and management of food safety within One Health/Ecohealth context in Vietnam: Concepts and applications. Presentation at the 2nd Food Safety and Zoonoses Symposium for Asia Pacific, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 21-22 July 2011.

ILRI in the news: Business Daily features ILRI project on improving pig production in western Kenya

The 8 March 2011 issue of the Business Daily newspaper featured research work by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and partners on improving pig production in western Kenya.

The research project developed and validated a tool to help smallholder pig farmers accurately estimate the weight of their animals to determine the selling price. Because the weight estimation tool is more accurate than the commonly used method of visual assessment, which often under-estimates the actual pig weight, small-scale farmers in western Kenya can now get a fairer price for their pigs and, consequently, boost their household incomes.

Here's the link to the Business Daily article: Pig measuring tool tips the scales in favour of farmers.

Related blog posts
No more guesswork: Tool developed for better prediction of live weights of local pigs in western Kenya

New study calls for better training of local pig farmers in western Kenya to boost profits

No more guesswork: Tool developed for better prediction of live weights of local pigs in western Kenya

Pig farmers in rural western Kenya can now have better bargaining power and a chance of getting a fair price when selling their animals, thanks to a newly developed tool that uses body length and girth measurements to estimate pig weight within reasonable levels of accuracy.

A study published in the January/February 2011 edition of the Journal of Swine Health and Production details how the weight-prediction tool was developed and validated based on 298 observations of pigs in Busia and Kakamega districts of western Kenya where smallholder pig keeping is a popular enterprise.

Households here typically keep one or two pigs of local nondescript breeds that are either tethered or left free to scavenge for feed.

No formal market structures exist for sale of the mature pigs; local traders and pork butchers usually travel between farms on bicycles looking for pigs to buy.

The selling price is based on the weight of the pig but because farmers cannot afford to buy weighing scales, they have no option but to guess the weight based on visual assessment.

This guesswork method of "weighing by looking" is evidently less accurate than the use of a scale and often results in the farmers underestimating the weight of their pigs and thus selling at a price far below market value.

Weight predictions using body measurements have been studied in other countries and for various species of animals.

However, this was the first time that weight prediction using girth and length measurements for pigs was being studied in rural western Kenya or in similar settings in East Africa.

Based on weights and body measurements, mathematical weight equations were developed for three categories of pigs: young (under 5 months), market age (5.1-9.9 months) and breeding age (over 10 months).

Farmers were also asked to "guesstimate" the age and weight of the pigs in each category.

The weight predicted by the equation was more accurate than that estimated by the farmers.

For 90% of the market-age pigs, the difference between the actual weight and that predicted by the equation was 4.6 kg which was significantly lower than the difference of 24 kg between the actual pig weight and the farmers' estimates.

The authors suggest that the weight-prediction tool will offer smallholder farmers in western Kenya the opportunity to get better market value for their local pigs and will act as an incentive to better manage their pigs through improved feeding and husbandry.

Separate analysis is ongoing to evaluate the effect of the tool on the farmer-trader bargaining process and on pricing.

The study was part of research by the lead author, Florence Mutua, towards a PhD degree in epidemiology from the University of Nairobi (awarded 2010).

The paper’s co-authors are Cate Dewey of the University of Guelph, Samuel Arimi and William Ogara of the University of Nairobi, and Esther Schelling of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.

Dr Mutua’s ILRI supervisor was Dr Thomas Randolph, agricultural economist and head of ILRI’s research team on smallholder competitiveness in changing markets.

Access the article


Citation
Mutua FK, Dewey CE, Arimi SM, Schelling E and Ogara WO. 2011. Prediction of live body weight using length and girth measurements for pigs in rural Western Kenya. Journal of Swine Health and Production 19(1): 26-33.

New study calls for better training of local pig farmers in western Kenya to boost profits

Better marketing, improved access to credit, and training on good pig husbandry practices are among key interventions needed to boost the profitability of indigenous pig production in western Kenya, a new study reports.

Production of indigenous pigs is a popular enterprise among farmers in western Kenya because it is a low-risk venture with minimal input requirements in terms of space and feed. Smallholder households in this region typically keep one or two pigs that are either tethered or left free to scavenge.

The study published in the Nordic Journal of African Studies examined the beliefs and perceptions on local pig production among smallholder farmers in Kakamega District in western Kenya. The study also sought to establish the challenges the farmers face in production and marketing of their pigs, and possible avenues for improving pig husbandry and boosting farmer incomes.

Focus group discussions were held with four groups of 8-12 farmers each, as well as divisional staff working in livestock production, agriculture, health, adult education and social services.

Some of the constraints hampering the growth of indigenous pig farming include poor rural infrastructure, lack of local pork processing facilities, low levels of awareness among farmers on appropriate pig breeding methods, and religious beliefs surrounding consumption of pork.

The authors acknowledge that the challenges affecting the sector will need to be addressed first before any reasonable gains can be achieved.

“Future research needs to directly address the issues raised by the farmers and staff to enable the smallholder pig sector to thrive in this region of Kenya,” the paper concludes.

For example, training and extension tools for farmers will need to be revised to incorporate the different topics suggested by farmers and the staff so that training workshops better meet the needs of the participants.

The study was part of research by the lead author, Florence Mutua, towards a PhD degree in epidemiology from the University of Nairobi (awarded 2010). The paper’s co-authors are Samuel Arimi and William Ogara of the University of Nairobi, Cate Dewey of the University of Guelph and Esther Schelling of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.

Dr Mutua’s ILRI supervisor was Dr Thomas Randolph, agricultural economist and head of ILRI’s research team on smallholder competitiveness in changing markets.

Access the article

Citation
Mutua F, Arimi S, Ogara W, Dewey C and Schelling E. 2010. Farmer perceptions on indigenous pig farming in Kakamega District, Western Kenya. Nordic Journal of African Studies 19(1): 43–57.

Informal contract arrangements are an economic boost for Vietnam’s small-scale pig farmers

Farmer Ma Thi Puong feeds her pigs on her farm near the northern town of Meo Vac, Viet Nam. (Photo credit: ILRI/Mann)

The rapid growth in demand for pork in Vietnam presents an opportunity for rural pig-keeping households to improve their incomes. This project on contract farming for equitable market-oriented smallholder swine production in northern Vietnam sought to characterize the ‘true’ costs and benefits of contract farming of swine in northern Vietnam.

The ultimate objective was to understand the barriers to participation of smallholders in contract farming and other market arrangements and to identify a set of policy and intervention options that would facilitate profitable market-oriented livestock farming partnerships.

The project was carried out in four provinces of northern Vietnam that supply slaughter pigs to the Hanoi market: Bac Giang, Ha Tay, Thai Binh and Thanh Hoa. Selected case studies assessed a variety of institutional arrangements and provided information on marketing arrangements for pigs and pig products under different institutional forms, and on contractor strategies for targeting and selecting producers in Northern Vietnam.

Below are a few key highlights of the project findings.

Scale of production is a barrier to smallholder participation
Smallholder farmers keeping only a few pigs tended to be locked out of participating in formal contract arrangements primarily because contractors preferred to engage farmers with more than 50 sows and large-scale farms that generated outputs of more than 5 tonnes live weight per year.

Informal contract arrangements benefit smallholders
Informal contracts with co-operative societies can help small-scale farmers generate better returns in short-duration pig production systems such as production of crossbreeds under farrow-to-wean and grow-to-finish systems. However, for longer production cycles (farrow-to-finish), independent producers had higher returns to labour. The benefits of contract farming arrangements included lower transaction costs, protection from production and market risks, and access to quality inputs, services, financing, information and markets for outputs.

Informal contract arrangements are effective
Based on the comparison of returns to labour between farmers with and without contracts, informal contract arrangements were effective in facilitating economic returns from pig production by providing farmers with a number of benefits and services such as price discounts, technical assistance, market information, delivery of inputs to farm and collection of outputs from farm.

The project was supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative (FAO-PPLPI) and administered by the Market Opportunities theme of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in collaboration with staff from Hanoi Agricultural University and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

For more information, please contact Dr Lucy Lapar of ILRI (l.lapar [at] cgiar.org).

In the news: Director of ILRI's market opportunities theme interviewed on Vietnam agriculture TV channel

Agricultural economist and director of the Market Opportunities Theme at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Dr Steve Staal, was interviewed on the Weekend Agro-Products Market programme on VTC-16, Vietnam’s Agriculture and Rural Development television channel.

Dr Staal was speaking during a workshop for an ILRI-led project aimed at improving the competitiveness of pig producers in an adjusting Vietnam market. The workshop was held on 5 October 2010 at the Melia Hotel, Hanoi, Vietnam to mark the end of the project and to present research findings to stakeholders.

He highlighted the key findings of the project, noting that smallholder pig producers in Vietnam are indeed competitive and are likely to remain so, especially in light of projected future increases in consumer demand for fresh pork.

The three-year project (2007-2010) was sponsored by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). The project collaborators were the Centre for Agricultural Policy - Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development (CAP-IPSARD), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Oxfam Hong Kong and the University of Queensland.

More information is available on the project website http://www.vietpigs.com.vn/

ILRI project poster wins top prize at European College of Veterinary Public Health annual conference

A poster based on work by an ILRI-led project aimed at making Vietnam's small-scale pig producers more competitive won the Best Poster Award at the annual scientific meeting of the European College of Veterinary Public Health, held in Nottwil, Lucerne, Switzerland on 7-8 October 2010.

Titled Risk assessment in the pork meat chain in two districts of Vietnam: A residency training project in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute, the poster was prepared by scientists from the Veterinary Public Health Institute, University of Berne, Switzerland; the National Institute for Veterinary Research, Hanoi, Vietnam; and ILRI.

Citation
Fahrion A, Toan NN, Thuy DN, Lapar L and Grace D. 2010.  Risk assessment in the pork meat chain in two districts of Vietnam: A residency training project in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute. Poster presented at the European College of Veterinary Public Health AGM and Annual Scientific Conference, Nottwil, Lucerne, Switzerland, 7-8 October 2010.

Risk assessment in the pork meat chain in 2 districts of Vietnam. A Residency Training Project in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute

View more documents from ILRI CGIAR.

In the news: ILRI-led research on smallholder pig producers features in Vietnam News

The 09 October 2010 issue of the Vietnam News highlights the collaborative research project, Improving the competitiveness of pig producers in an adjusting Vietnam market, which was led by scientists from the Market Opportunities theme of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

The three-year project which ran from April 2007 to March 2010 aimed to identify an appropriate policy and institutional framework that would best improve the competitiveness of smallholder pig producers in Vietnam in light of rising consumer demand for pork.

The project collaborators were the Centre for Agricultural Policy - Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development (CAP-IPSARD), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Oxfam and the University of Queensland.

Here's the link to the article, Small pig producers bring home the bacon.

For more information about the project, please visit the project website at http://www.vietpigs.com.vn/

Vietnam pork sector study featured in New Agriculturist

A collaborative study led by ILRI's Markets Opportunities theme to map the supply chains for pigs and pork products in Vietnam is featured in the January 2010 issue of the online bimonthly newsletter New Agriculturist.

The project, Improving the competitiveness of pig producers in an adjusting Vietnam market, is aimed at generating research evidence to inform policymakers on the appropriate policy, technological and institutional frameworks that will allow Vietnam's smallholder pig producers to competitively increase their incomes through enhanced access to market chains for high-value pork products.

"Smallholders could play a much greater role in pork production but there is a need to generate appropriate technologies to maximize the potential of these systems, to improve the breeds and to provide better and more cost-efficient feed rations," the article quotes Lucy Lapar, a scientist with ILRI's Market Opportunities theme scientist and the coordinator of the project.

The project is due to end in March 2010 but it is hoped that the outputs of the study will be taken up by policymakers and sector stakeholders to inform dialogue towards formulation of pro-poor policies in support of Vietnam's smallholder pig producers.

The project is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in collaboration with the Centre for Agricultural Policy - Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development (CAP-IPSARD), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Oxfam and the University of Queensland.

Here's the link to the New Agriculturist article, Vietnam: taking a pig to market.

Vietnam pigs project launches website

A new website has been launched for the project "Improving the competitiveness of pig producers in an adjusting Vietnam market".

The project is working to identify an appropriate policy and technology framework and forms of market and institution coordination that will allow smallholder pig producers in Vietnam to competitively raise their incomes through better access to higher value market chains.

The project is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and is a partnership involving ILRI, the Vietnam Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Development (IPSARD), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Oxfam and University of Queensland.

New report on pig production in Assam, India

ILRI's Market Opportunities Theme has published a report on pig production in Assam State, India. Based on a comprehensive study of the pig sub-sector, the report identifies clear opportunities for improvement of pig production and marketing to contribute to livelihood improvements in the state.

Download the report

Citation
Rameswar Deka, William Thorpe, M. Lucila Lapar and Anjani Kumar. 2007. Assam’s pig sub-sector: current status, constraints and opportunities. ILRI project report. ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute), Nairobi. 117 pp.