Master Thesis No 50 Master Thesis in Rural Development with Specialization in Livelihood and Natural Resource Management ISSN 1403-7998

Assessment of the potential of rabbit production in the household economy in Northern Vietnam A case study: Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nho Quan district, Ninh Binh province Nguyen Ky Son, National Goat and Rabbit research Center, Vietnam, 2008

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Department of Urban and Rural Development Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

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ABSTRACT Vietnam is a tropical country where the agriculture sector is characterized by smallholders. In recent years, GDP of agriculture production has increased by 51%, in which livestock production has accounted for 21%. In the past, livestock faced many issues including bird flu and foot and mouth diseases. To save the situation, farmers have been trying to develop rabbit production, which has stimulated expansion of up to 12% and pushed the price to the highest mark at 8% in livestock systems at that time.

The rabbit is a small animal with high potentials and preferred by rural households. Many studies of rabbit production were carried out, indicating positive results. They have, however, not included more in-depth analysis of the potential of rabbit production at individual rural household level.

This field research was conducted in two communes, namely Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh, of Nho Quan District, Ninh Binh Province. The research aimed to analyze the potential of rabbit production in small households, with the following specific objectives: (i) Evaluating rabbit production; (ii) Investigating the factors influencing rabbit production; (iii) Investigating rabbit production contributions to household incomes. Understanding opportunities and challenges of rabbit production was also taken into consideration.

The methods used to gather data and information included household surveys, group discussions and individual interviews. Besides, secondary data from the communes, the district and the province on socio-economic annual reports and rabbit husbandry planning were collected and analyzed in the thesis.

The results of the research indicated that there are two main factors influencing rabbit production, to be more specific, they are: (i) internal factors as the potential available to smallholder farmers (breeding sources, feed and labor sources used for rabbit production, and farmer’s knowledge/skills concerning rabbit rearing) (ii) external factors (access to technology/information sources; roles of stakeholders, policies supporting rabbit production development and market for rabbit production). The results also indicated that there are opportunities/challenges of rabbit production development. However, the lack of access to technology and marketing strategies are the major constraints for rabbit production at the present time.

The survey is limited to two communes in the Red River Delta region in North Vietnam and therefore further investigation into different population groups and rural agro-ecology situations is needed to determine the most appropriate strategies for developing rabbit production of Vietnam.

Key words: Internal and external factors contribute to household economy, potentials of rabbit production, rabbit’s opportunities and challenges.

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DEDICATION

The thesis is a gift that I would like offer my great family (parents, young brother, and young sister) with whom I have been growing up in harmony and love. I would also send my warmest regards to my own happy family where I have my wife and my two sons (Nguyen Tung Duong and Nguyen Gia Phong) longing for my success and return.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This study was completed within the co-operation between Vietnam-Sweden under the Project for Sustainable Rural Development in Vietnam (RDViet), and with financial support from the Government of Sweden. I would like to express my gratitude to all the following people for their supports.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my International Supervisor Dr Malin Beckman- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), for her valuable guidance, suggestions, comments, and corrections. And my sincere thanks go to Associate Supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dinh Van Binh, Director of National Goat and Rabbit Research Center, Vietnam for his regards, supports, and valuable guidance during my study. Without their professional support and guidance, my study would not have been possible and completed.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Assoc. Prof. Le Duc Ngoan, Leader of project RDViet in Vietnam and Dr Britta Ogle, Leader of project RDViet in Sweden who always facilitated me during the training.

Thanks to all my lecturers for providing me with profound knowledge required by this training programme.

Thanks to all of my classmates in 2nd MSc, Ms Huynh Anh Phuong, and Mr Ngo Trung Thanh who generously shared their knowledge and experiences with me in the course of my studies.

With all of my love to my wife, Dang Thi Mai Hien for her encouragement and taking care of our two sons Nguyen Tung Duong and Nguyen Gia Phong while I was away for my studies in Hue.

Let me express my deep gratitude to my parents, young brother, young sister and parents-in-law who have always supported me during studies.

Finally, gratitude to people of Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes who have worked with me during field research in two sites.

Hue City, Vietnam - February 2008

NGUYEN KY SON

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BRC: British Rabbit Council

DAH: Vietnam National Animal Husbandry

FA: Farmer Association

FAO: Food and Agricultural Organization

IFAD: International Fund for Agriculture Development

IFPRI: International Food Policy Research Institute

GA: Gardening Association

NRS: Ninh Binh Rabbit Station

VND: Vietnam dong (1$ approximately 16 thousands VND)

VHD: Homorganic disease

VNGRRC: Vietnam National Goat and Rabbit Research Center

SLA: Sustainable Livelihood Approach.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................I

DEDICATION ................................................................................................................ II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.............................................................................................III

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................IV

TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................. V

LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... VII

LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... VII

LIST OF APPENDICES............................................................................................VIII

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 1

1.1. OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................... 1

1.2. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................... 1

1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS .................................................................................... 2

1.4. SPECIFIC RESEARCH QUESTIONS ................................................................ 2

1.5. STRUCTURE OF THESIS ................................................................................... 2

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................. 3

2.1. STUDY SITE SELECTION .................................................................................. 3

2.2. DATA COLLECTION............................................................................................ 3

2.2.1. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................... 3 2.2.2. SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION ...................................................................... 3 2.2.3. MAPPING AND SEASONAL CALENDAR............................................................... 4 2.2.4. GROUP DISCUSSIONS .......................................................................................... 4 2.2.5. VENN DIAGRAM, RANKING EXERCISE, SWOT ANALYSIS .............................. 5 2.2.6. IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS ...................................................................................... 5 KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS........................................................................................ 5 FARMER INTERVIEWS ..................................................................................................... 6 2.2.7. OBSERVATION .................................................................................................... 6

2.3. DATA ANALYSIS................................................................................................... 6

CHAPTER III: THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW .................................... 8

3.1. DEFINITIONS ......................................................................................................... 8 3.2. HOW IMPORTANT ARE SMALL ANIMALS FOR RURAL SMALLHOLDERS .......................................................................................................... 9

3.2.1. CREATING TO SMALLHOLDERS’ ASSET AND INCOME ..................................... 9 3.2.2. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF RABBITS .............................................................. 10 3.2.3. WHAT ARE THE CONSTRAINTS OF RABBIT PRODUCTION TO SMALLHOLDER

FARMER ........................................................................................................................ 11

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3.2.3.1. Facilitating rabbit production ............................................................................ 11 3.2.3.2. Technical and information approach .................................................................. 11

CHAPTER IV: BACKGROUND OF STUDY ........................................................ 12

4.1. OVERVIEW OF RABBIT PRODUCTION IN THE WORLD................... 12

4.1.1. A BRIEF HISTORY OF RABBIT HUSBANDRY.................................................... 12 4.1.2. A BRIEF HISTORY OF RABBIT BREEDS ............................................................ 12 4.1.3. RABBIT PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE ........................................................... 13 4.1.4. RABBIT PRODUCTION TRADE ......................................................................... 13

4.2. OVERVIEW RABBIT PRODUCTION IN VIETNAM ................................ 13

4.2.1. HISTORICAL AND SITUATION OF RABBIT PRODUCTION IN VIETNAM ........ 13 4.2.2.1 The rabbit breed and diseases ............................................................................ 15 4.2.2.2. Research on rabbit feed systems ........................................................................ 15 4.2.2.3. Rabbit housing system..................................................................................... 15 4.2.2.4. Research on rabbit integrated farming systems and transferring technical ................ 16

4.3. ISSUES OF RESEARCH ON STATION RELATIVE TO FIELD STUDIES ................... 16

CHAPTER V: STUDY SITES .................................................................................... 17

5.1. LOCATION ............................................................................................................ 18

5.2. PHYSICAL-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS ........................................... 18 5.3. OVERVIEW OF RABBIT-REARING SITUATION IN NINH BINH PROVINCE, NHO QUAN DISTRICT AND TWO STUDY SITES ................. 20

CHAPTER VI: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .................................................. 22

6.1. HOUSEHOLD SITUATIONS AND ACTIVITIES IN STUDY SITES...... 23

6.1.1. HOUSEHOLD STATUS........................................................................................ 23 6.1.2. AGRICULTURE PRODUCTION .......................................................................... 24

6.1.2.1. Crop cultivation.............................................................................................. 24 6.1.2.2. Livestock husbandry........................................................................................ 25

6.1.2. LIVESTOCK PRODUCTS INCOME...................................................................... 28

6.2. RABBIT PRODUCTION IN THE STUDY SITES ....................................... 29

6.2.1. RABBIT DEVELOPMENT TIMING ...................................................................... 29 6.2.2. RABBIT PRODUCE PERFORMANCES ................................................................ 31

6.3. FACTORS INFLUENCE TO RABBIT PRODUCTION.............................. 32

6.3.1. INTERNAL FACTORS ......................................................................................... 32 6.3.1.1. Rabbit breed sources ........................................................................................ 32 6.3.1.2. Rabbit house material resources ........................................................................ 33 6.3.1.3. Rabbit feed resources and management .............................................................. 34 6.3.1.4. Farmer skills in rabbit production .................................................................... 35

6.3.2. EXTERNAL FACTORS ........................................................................................ 36 6.3.2.1. Market for rabbit production............................................................................. 36 6.3.2.2. Rabbit production in the integrated farming systems model. ................................. 37

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6.3.2.3. Technology sources for rabbit production ............................................................ 39 Sources of technology ..................................................................................................... 39 Supporting spread of knowledge...................................................................................... 40 Making communication ................................................................................................. 41

6.4. RABBIT PRODUCTION CONTRIBUTES TO HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY .................................................................................................................... 41

6.4.1. RABBIT PRODUCTION EMPLOYMENT CREATION .......................................... 42 6.4.2. RABBIT PRODUCTION CONTRIBUTES TO HOUSEHOLD INCOME ................ 42

6.5. CONSTRAINTS OF RABBIT PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT ........... 43

6.5.1. RABBIT FARMER BACKWARD HABITS ............................................................. 43 6.5.2. MARKET AND CREDIT ASPECTS FOR RABBIT PRODUCTION ........................ 44

6.6. THE RABBIT PRODUCTION OPPORTUNITIES...................................... 44

6.7. RABBIT PRODUCTION CHALLENGES....................................................... 45

6.7.1. FEED SOURCES .................................................................................................. 45 6.7.2. DISEASES PROTECTION, BREEDING MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING ........ 45

CHAPTER VII: CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 47

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 49

APPENDICES ................................................................................................................ 52

List of tables

Table 2.1 Criteria of the community for classifying households ......................................... 4 Table 4.1 Rabbit distributions in Vietnam ........................................................................ 14 Table 4.2: The price changes of animal products .............................................................. 14 Table 5.1. Some characteristics of the Ninh Binh province............................................. 19 Table 6.1 Household status and income generation.......................................................... 23 Table 6.2: The main problems of livestock production in households ............................. 25 Table 6.3: Income from cattle and pigs products in households ....................................... 28 Table 6.4: The rabbit development timing and situation in households ........................... 29 Table 6.5: Rabbit reproduction capacity in households .................................................... 31 Table 6.6 Access to rabbit breeds. ..................................................................................... 33 Table 6.7. Rabbit products contributes to household incomes ......................................... 42

List of figures

Framework 3.1: The practice framework of rabbit production in study sites ..................... 8 Figure 5.1 Rabbit distributions in Nho Quan................................................................... 20 Figure 6.1: Income from cattle and pig products in households ...................................... 28 Figure 6.2. Changes of rabbit production in households .................................................. 30 Figure. 6.3. Market for rabbit production ......................................................................... 36 Figure: 6.4. Rabbit production mixed integrated farming systems in households............. 38

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Figure: 6.5. Rabbit-keepers access the technology capacity.............................................. 39

List of appendices

Appendix 1. Questionnaires .............................................................................................. 52 Appendix 2. Maps and venn diagram of the two communes........................................... 56 Transect map of Yen Binh commune ............................................................................... 56 Venn diagram of Yen Binh commune .............................................................................. 56 Map of Ninh Phuc commune ........................................................................................... 57 Venn diagram of Ninh Phuc commune ............................................................................ 59 Seasonal calendar of Ninh Phuc commune ....................................................................... 59 Seasonal calendar of Yen Binh commune ......................................................................... 59

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CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

World demand for animal products for food is increasing not only due to more people, but also due to a change in consumption pattern as result of increased income and improved living standards. The trend as evidenced in Asia, is that consumption of food of animal origin- meat, eggs, and dairy products per capita increased over 50 percent between 1970 and 1990 and the demand is expected to double over the next twenty years (IFPRI 1999). Animal husbandry has been identified by authors as (Kristensen, Larsen et al. 2002); (Chantalakhana 2002) to bring significant household benefits both for short- and medium-terms needs and in the long-term for savings. The large ruminants (buffalos and cattle) are very valuable for agriculture and farm security. However, access is limited for rural poor people or smallholder farmers because of the high input investment cost and also high vulnerability to risk due to low resilience. In contrast small animals (goats, sheep, rabbits, and poultry) are particularly important for poor smallholder livelihood security as they require lower investment and are easier to access. Between smallholders and small animals there is a strong relationship that has very significant implications (IFAD, 2001).

Vietnam is a tropical country located in Southeast Asia, with a population of about 85 million, of which 74 percent live in rural areas. Agriculture production in Vietnam is characterized as a smallholder, household-based system. In recent years, the total value of agriculture production accounts for approximately 15.8 percent of the total GDP. During 2001-2005 period, GDP of agriculture increased by 51 percent while total GDP increased 89 percent. As much as 21 percent of the 51 percent of the GDP increase in agriculture was from livestock production, mainly pigs, cattle, chickens, and other small animals such as goats, sheep and rabbits (DAH, 2006). However, despite the significant figures above, livestock production in Vietnam has faced many issues such bird flu, mouth and foot epidemics appearing in the whole country in the past. Rural farmers’ spontaneous initiatives to improve resilience and finding out which ways to recover has included rabbit production, which has been stimulating for rabbit expansion in recent years (12% increase between 2000-2005 (DAH, 2006). Rabbits are considered as a “micro livestock” or as a “pig for poor farmer” in rural area. However, besides the potential of rabbit production the farmers have met many constraints, leading to low rabbit productivity.

Against this background, a field research was conducted in two communes (Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh) in Ninh Binh province where the farmers have been rearing rabbits for a long time. The study was undertaken in order to get a deeper understanding of the potentials and constraints for a further expansion of rabbit husbandry.

1.1. Objectives

Identify the potentials and constraints of rabbit production in the smallholder farmer households

1.2. Specific objectives

- Evaluating the rabbit production situation

- Assessing the main factors influencing rabbit production

- Investigating rabbit products’ contribution to the smallholder economy

- Finding out the opportunities and challenges of the rabbit production

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1.3. Research questions

What the factors and potentials of rabbit production and constraints that smallholder farmers need cope with?

1.4. Specific research questions

- How much does rabbit production contribute to the household economy and how does it compare with other lines of production in smallholders?

- What are the real potentials and constraints for rabbit development?

- What role do stakeholders play in encouraging rabbit production?

- What opportunities and challenges does rabbit production have?

1.5. Structure of thesis

This thesis includes seven chapters: Chapter I: Introduction, problem statement, objectives and research questions; Chapter II: Describing the reasons for the study site selection and research methodology; Chapter III: Theories, concepts, definitions and review on rabbit production in the World and Vietnam; Chapter IV: Background of the study; Chapter V: Investigating the context of the study site; Chapter VI: Presentation of the results of the field research and discussion of these; Chapter VII: Conclusion of research.

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CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

This part describes the methods that the researcher used for gathering the data and information in the studies. They included qualitative and quantitative methods along with the PRA tools for learning and understanding rural people’s opinions, behaviors and attitudes towards the practice of rabbit production in study sites. Limitations of the research are mentioned in the chapter.

2.1. Study site selection

Nho Quan District has the same agricultural patterns as those of the other eight districts of Ninh Binh Province where the two sites (Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes) are located. However, geography, rabbit feed resources, farmer's knowledge, and initial support for rabbit rearing are different between the communes. In Ninh Phuc, several formal rabbit programs have been developed since 2001 under the extension department, supported by the setup of demonstrations, training courses etc. while Yen Binh commune, in a hilly location, has only had informal rabbit programs that have been developed since 2003, and farmers here have not received any support for rabbit rearing. Based on the differences between the two communes, the aim of study sites selection is to assess and compare the rabbit production development capacity between them.

Of the 17 villages in the two communes, 9 villages belong to Ninh Phuc commune, and the rest belong to Yen Binh commune. Having a look at the village pictures in which contents such as household activity, crop cultivation, livestock husbandry, animal feed resources, source of the income generation, and so on, we can find out the issues concerning the research topic, such as what issues relate to internal or external factors and affected rabbit production in household. The field research was initiated with local authorities. Discussion groups, key informant interviews, a household survey and individual interviews were then used to collect data involving a variety of topics such as the geography of the commune, farmers’ land resources, cultivation, rabbits and other animal activities and income generation. Information on rabbit production is the main part. The factors influencing rabbit production were explored, collected and analyzed.

2.2. Data collection

2.2.1. Literature review

The literature review includes concepts and definitions related to the objectives of the research. This part also offers an understanding of the persons who carried out the research. In this context, both internal and external factors influencing rabbit production in general are reviewed, as well as issues of advantages and constraints of the rabbit production relating to household economy specifically, that are referenced to in the literature.

2.2.2. Secondary data collection

Secondary data were collected and reviewed from different sources at different levels. However, most came from Province, District, and Communes. At the province level, discussions were also held with main key stakeholders from the Agricultural and Rural development as well as the Extension Department. This gave an overview of information concerning agriculture activities in general such as crop production, livestock husbandry including rabbit husbandry and policies for rabbit production that received provincial level support. At the district level, dialogues were held with the Agriculture and Economical department as well as the Extension and Veterinary department. These stakeholders were asked on issues related to rabbit husbandry situation, rabbit population, rabbit trend and contributed in districts and how to experts support to rabbit

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husbandry to the communes. Secondary data were collected at the commune level. This included commune location, labor condition for farmer household activity in general, poverty situation and land use. Dialogues were meetings with head of Farmer, Veteran, and Gardening Associations on issues related to rabbit husbandry organization, how to facilitative rabbit production such as breed sources, marketing, and technologies training organizing programs.

2.2.3. Primary data.

2.2.3.1. Mapping and seasonal calendar

Mapping was conducted with the participation of four local staff in Ninth Phu commune and three local staff in Yen Bin commune. The local staff included: heads of land, irrigation management, gardening, and farmer association. Observation was used for checking the information and drawn pictures. The commune maps showed boundaries between villages, natural resources, farming patterns, irrigation systems, and habitant location. The topographical data presented soil information; land areas used by farmers in villages with common purposes, hills and a part of the mountain location, agro-ecological zones, and infrastructure systems of villages such as road, market, etc. The commune maps also indicated the wild green feed source capacity in the hills and the part of the mountain area for rabbit use in both communes.

The same local staff also drew seasonal calendars. These gave the general description of the cultivation and livestock activities in each period of a year, time of rainfall, timeline of crop cultivation and harvesting, and crops yield. Beside those, the seasonal calendars also show animal feed resources capacity in the two communes

2.2.3.2. Group discussions

Before doing this exercise, the researcher introduced the research objectives in order to avoid misunderstandings regarding the data and information collection during field research. With the help of heads of villages, the researcher invited a group of 45 rabbit keepers in Ninh Phuc and 35 rabbit keepers in Yen Binh. The researcher and village leader and local associations determined what better-off, medium households are, focusing particularly on characteristics as listed in Table 2.1. All distinctive characteristics of each group were defined; after which a discussion with heads of the village associations was held. Then the 135 households rearing rabbits in Ninh Phuc and the 104 households rearing rabbits in Yen Binh commune were used to select a random study sample.

Table 2.1 Criteria of the community for classifying households

Communes Better off Medium No of doe

keeping permanent (head)

No of rabbits selling per year (head)

Total land area (sao)

Total income (million VND per year)

No of doe keeping permanent (head)

No of rabbits selling per year (head)

Total land area (sao)

Total income (million VND per year)

Ninh Phuc

> 20 >150 9-10 > 20 15-20 100-150

5-8 15-20

Yen Binh 10-15 100 >10 15-20 5-10 70-100 8-10 10-15

Source: Head of local associations and villages group discussion in two communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007.

In each village, the village leader/local associations, who are keeping/understanding the main information of the commune situation; and represent local associations (Head of Gardening in Ninh Phuc; Head of Veterans and Farmers in Yen Binh), were invited. In each commune one group discussion was organized. The topic of discussion focused on the role of stakeholders in

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rabbit production, rabbit husbandry/other agriculture activities presently or plans for the future in the commune.

For the farmer group discussions: The rabbit farmers were selected for discussion including both male and females who had been involved in rabbit rearing a long time up to present. Criteria for participants to be selected mainly included timing of rabbit keeping, income from rabbits and whether or not they had participated in any training course. In each group an average of 8 to 10 farmers participated. From the better-off group a total of 19 participants in Ninh Phuc were divided into two groups, while in Yen Binh a total of 14 participants were divided into two groups. For the medium income group: in Ninh Phuc, a total of 26 participants were divided into three groups, while in Yen Binh, 21 participants were divided into two groups for discussion.

The discussion included household income sources (crop, livestock production, and other source), issues relating to advantages and disadvantages, and how they contribute to household economy in general. Mainly, information focused on rabbit production such as farmer's attitudes, where rabbit breeds and feed sources were obtained, rabbit house material source, access to marketing or technology, effects of stakeholders on rabbit production, what opportunities or challenges existed, how rabbit products compared with cattle and pig production. During the discussion, the farmers showed advantages and constraints of rabbit production.

2.2.3.3. Venn diagram, ranking exercise, SWOT analysis

The result shows the relationship between farmers with other stakeholders in the support of rabbit rearing. Looking at the picture, the position closest to the centre in the diagram is the most important. The process was conducted by several rabbit farmer groups (6-8 participants in each).

The purpose was to understand the rabbit production value and its role in the household economy through the assessment of the rabbit farmer groups. The criteria made by farmers in a group of 8 to 10 included income generation sources such as cultivation, livestock, rabbit production income, and non-farm income. The data were ranked in order of importance of each item.

In the two sites 6-8 members from each rabbit rearing group joined the discussion. The participants who were rearing rabbits within different groups had a discussion and were interviewed. This exercise focused on four issues including; Strengths, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat perceived in the rabbit rearing process in the communes.

2.2.3.4. In-depth interviews

In-depth interviews were held with different informants and on different topics as follows

Key informant interviews

At the agriculture department in the districts, issues on the rabbit husbandry such as how the staff’s activity concerning rabbits was organized, and also issues that supported or facilitated rabbit production were discussed.

Discussions were held with Heads of Gardening Association, Head of Farmer Associations in the communes, Vice Head of the extension department of Ninh Binh province, and expertise of agriculture department in the districts. The information gathered was relevant to rabbit production in the province, districts and communes.

Two children and one old person in Ninh Phuc; and one child and two old persons in Yen Binh were invited for interviews. The children were of primary and secondary school age and could not participate in the household’s hard work. The interviews focused on issues related to rabbit

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management such as: how did they spend their time when the school day finished, how was feed purchased, what was their opinion regarding rabbit keeping compared to other household activities.

Three collectors in both Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh were interviewed, on topics including rabbit price selling, market operation in the sites and possible factors influencing the rabbit product market system.

In the communes, the data and information relevant to the rabbit situation, green feed resources, farmer skill evaluation, and role of local authority for rabbit production, policy and support for rabbit development were investigated.

Farmer interviews

This task was conducted with 45 rabbit farmers in Ninh Phuc; and 35 rabbit farmers in Yen Binh commune. These primary data were gathered from farmers’ by using the questionnaire forms during interviews. The major content of the interviews concerned rabbit production and other agriculture products (including crop and pigs, cattle production) for comparison of value.

For the other agriculture products, including farmer's attitudes to issues of the cultivation activity and its value, other livestock (pigs, cattle, chickens) production including; reproduction capacity, farmer's capacity regarding diseases treatment, price, investment, profits, its advantage/disadvantage and others relevance.

The rabbit production questionnaire was designed to focus on the time when such production started and development over time of the rabbit production, rabbit situation, farmer's reason for adoption/non adoption of rabbit production, rabbit production value, price, feed sources, labor, time, farmer's opinion (advantage, disadvantage).

The data and information from the questionnaire were updated daily in an excel sheet and analyzed by SPSS software when the field survey was completed.

2.2.3.5. Observation

The researcher’s self-observation was used during the field research as well as for re-checking data, information gathered from interviews, discussions, mapping and drawing of Venn diagram. For example, the researcher observed and assessed the rabbit house when farmer said it was durable or temporary; or when the farmer said rabbit green feed source was diverse and abundant in the commune. Through the use of observations the researcher tested whether the information was exact or biased.

2.3. Data analysis

The data gathered from survey sites were coded and arranged into sub-topics. The data and information in the questionnaire were converted into SPSS software for analysis. Both qualitative and quantitative data was included. Qualitative data were used to the give more information in relation to statistics and statistic frequency tools to the analysis. The results described for example the frequencies of occupations, the labor that was responsible for rabbit rearing (husband, wife, child or old people), or the farmer's opinion about green rabbit feed sources (difficult, medium and easily accessible). As for quantitative data, the numbers considered rabbit/other products income in different household groups and were used to compare means in the analysis. However, in the analysis of comparing rabbit products to other items, the labor and green feed items were

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not included because these items were available in household. The result of the analysis is presented in tabulation and graphs in Chapter VI.

The author is a researcher in rabbit research on the station. To avoid bias in data/information gathered in fieldwork, the researcher used a research assistant. Research’ result that the assistant gathered was compared with the result of the main researcher as data crosschecking. However, data/information among us was not different.

However, there was a limitation in the quantitative method applied to both rabbit and other products value, as the answers seemed biased on rabbit value, or sometimes farmers’ did not calculate truly about other products value. For the qualitative methods, sufficient information was not always gathered, for example: on farmer’s opinion regarding current rabbit production. Thus there is a need to follow up more on this issue for a better understanding.

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CHAPTER III: THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW

This section will present some concepts and definitions in relation to the research. Reference the literature is discussed from authors that are relevant to small animal stocks, with a focus on rabbit production and its role for smallholders. An overview of the rabbit productivity characteristics and what issues constrain rabbit production are discussed.

3.1. Definitions

Farm income, broadly defined, includes livestock as well as crop income, and comprises both consumption- in-kind of own- farm output as well as the cash income obtained from output sold (Ellis 2000). Accordingly, rabbit production is considered a part of smallholder’s livestock production system in which rabbit production significant for household generates income.

Framework 3.1: The practice framework of rabbit production in study sites

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Source: Field research in two communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

3.2. How important are small animals for rural smallholders

3.2.1. Creating smallholders’ assets and income

According to FAO (1985), small farmer households in South Asia keep animals for draft power, meat, manure and as source of cash income. Another author has observed that the small animal production unit (rabbits, guinea pigs, goat, sheep etc.) is an integral aspect of household garden economics (Castillo 1988)

In the "Rural poverty report 2001" (IFAD, 2001), IFAD mentions in a section (p.101) under the heading "The poor, types of livestock assets and livestock asset policies" that poor farmers or

Internal factors Rabbit breed sources Rabbit feed resources Labor source use Rabbit housing

materials/equipments construction

External factors Market Access to technology Policies, role of

stakeholders

Medium group

Yen Binh commune

Ninh Phuc commune

Better off group

Better off group

Medium group

Out putRabbit production adopted

Out putSome rabbit farmers non adoption

Outcome⇒ Employment

creation ⇒ Increased

smallholder farmer income

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smallholder farmers like small animal species, that they often do not have other larger animals, and if they have, they are always afraid of coping with the risks (because of the higher value), and also that small livestock is often controlled by women and children. This was followed up (p.152) by a statement in the Poverty Report; Chapter 3 which examines ways to improve the benefits to rural poor from livestock assets. The implication for research and technology is a shift from cattle to small animals (sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits, and poultry) which are more likely to be owned and managed by the poor).

According to Cheeke (1986), small livestock such as rabbits have a number of characteristics that might be advantageous for the smallholders, subsistence-type integrated farming and gardening food production systems in developing countries. Vietmeyer (1985) has coined the term "micro livestock" to describe these small animals, as cattle can be a too large investment for poor people and require too much space for the landless. Small animals such as goat, sheep, rabbits could play and an increasing role for the poor.

Rabbits have significant potentials to improve the food security of small farmers around the world, according to a new FAO publication, "The rabbit: Husbandry, health and production". A relatively simple enterprise, "backyard" rabbit raising can produce modest income and help upgrade the family diet of rural and urban households with minimal input and labor costs (FAO 1999).

According to Binh (2003), rabbit rearing is a low input investment which results in high returns to capital invested through short generation cycles and high reproductive rates. Rabbit meat is highly sought after and more expensive than other products, which in turn, can provide higher incomes for producers and better nutrition for humans, particularly for malnourished children (comprising of 30%) and the elderly. It also reduces vulnerability for rural households such as no epidemic diseases, which provides incentives for farmers to change to rabbit production.

Also according FAO (1999) access to rabbit production in comparison with other animals in that they produce highly nutritious, low-fat, low-cholesterol meat rich in proteins and certain vitamins and minerals; being herbivores, they do not compete with humans for their food and are easily adaptable to different environments; investment and labor costs are low and rabbits can be cared for by the most vulnerable family members; they are easy to transport and market for food, fur and skin; they are highly productive, with short gestation and lactation periods (up to 40 offspring a year, compared with 0.8 for cattle and 1.4 for sheep).

3.2.2. The characteristics of rabbits

The rabbit as a small animal has a number of characteristics that makes it particularly suitable as meat producing small livestock. Among these are the following: 1) Small body size and they require small amounts of feed, and use inexpensive, easily constructed housing. 2) Short generation time and high reproductivity. The reproductive capacity of rabbits is quick. Thus it is theoretically possible to produce over 7-8 litters per year. This intensive type of production could not be obtained in developing countries, but it is quite feasible to produce six to eight litters per year, or about 35-40 offspring per doe per year. 3) Utilization of non-competitive feeds. Like ruminants, rabbits can be successfully raised on grain-free diets, based on forages and by-products. Acceptable performance can be obtained using greens such as weeds, tree leaves, tropical legume and grass forage, vegetable tops, waste fruits and vegetables with supplements of table scraps and by-products such as rice bran and corn bran. 4) Rapid growth. In Vietnam rabbit production, market weight of fryers (2 kg) is reached in 2.5 to 3 months of age as rabbits reach market or

11

consumable size much faster than larger livestock (Binh 2003). 6) Production of high quality meat and useful by-products. Rabbit meat is high in protein and low in fat (Holmes, Sci et al. 1984), particularly when the animals are raised on high forage, low energy diet. Rabbit manure is a useful fertilizer for crops and gardens. Thus rabbit production can be well integrated into small farming systems (Cheeke 1986).

According to Binh (2003), there are 6 rabbit breeds of which 3 are local (3 breeds), 2 imported (2 breeds), and crossed breeds including: local breed comprises black-white, gray, and black breeds. They are very small size about 2.3-2.7 kg at adult age. The imported breed from Hungary includes New Zealand white, California, and Panon breeds. And last is crossed breed which used imported breeds crossing with local breed into rabbit hybrid, which gives a 25-30% local rabbit productivity improvement. This has been developed in the rural farmers in Vietnam (Binh, Luyen et al. 2004). 3.2.3. What are the constraints of rabbit production to smallholder farmer

3.2.3.1. Facilitation of rabbit production

Authors such as Cheeke (1986); Muir and Massaete (1991), consider the most obvious limitation to rabbit production in tropical developing countries to be that rabbits are susceptible to heat temperature stress in summer and reproduction can thus be severely limited. Management issues also affect rabbit production. As with any livestock enterprise key elements of labor, facilities, and lifestyle should be considered. More key concerns for rabbit production include sanitation and health, nutrition, reproduction and breeding also depend (RayMobley)

Binh (2003) has identified that the limitation to rabbit production as being the appropriate technologies improving rabbit production that have been developed in the last few years are region specific. Lack of experience and technical knowledge, extension support, availability of credit, and technical information are reasons for low rabbit productivity. And the last is rabbit meat not usually eaten by Vietnamese people, mainly because they are not commonly available in the markets and more expensive than the other products.

3.2.3.2. Technical and information approach

The results of transferring technology to farmers are often a frustration for the extension agent. Actually non-adoption or slow adoption rates for farmers are common. According to Llewellyn (2007) the slow adoption rates for many farmers in their agricultural practices are often a source of frustration for researchers and extension agents. An information and learning-based approach is used to describe the adoption decision-making process and why some innovations, even if apparently profitable, may not be adopted. However, it is also recognized that adoption and the adoption decision consume two limited on-farm resources: time and the capacity to integrate new information. Readily available quality information with high reliability and relevance to the decision-maker reduces these information seeking and learning costs.

Beside those reasons, marketing opportunities as output to facilitate for rabbit production affect. The price, demand of consumers, insufficient promotion, unsteady supply, competition with other meats, and poorly developed marketing channels may limit rabbit production Owen (1981); GaspariD (1984); Golman (1988); Lukefahr and Cheeke et al (2004).

The rabbit breed is easily accessible. It comes from different ways among rural communities, because it is quick in reproductivity and does not need much capital invest at beginning at small scale where farmer have been application. Rabbit production can be integrated into small farming systems for example located in hill-mountain areas where the rabbits can be fed with more diverse

12

feeds than other animals including crop residues, wild green feed, waste fruits and vegetables, etc. Its’ manure can be used as fertilizers for crops, gardens, and for earthworm as feed convert into fishponds or as chicken fed in rural farming. A rabbit house is easily designed and material’s available in rural household, because it does not need as large place as other animals. Neither does it require strong material, so there is not much capital investment for building and that is very important for rural farmers who apply a small scale at the starting time of rearing. The labor source used for rabbit does not need to be the main labor force, sub labor such as old people; children in rural household can be used. This may be significant for employ creation among smallholders in rural areas.

However, rabbit production also coped with constraints such as: farmers’ lack of management skill, market organizations, facilitate for rabbit spreading in local authority and even promotion policies at the different levels

CHAPTER IV: BACKGROUND OF STUDY

This chapter introduces the historical origins of the rabbit species in the world and issues related to rabbit husbandry such as reproductive capacity, rabbit trade and its potential contribution to rural farmer livelihoods. It also includes information on rabbit production in Vietnam including rabbit situation, and rabbit husbandry research. Last, some issues of research on station relative to field studies are also listed.

4.1. Overview of rabbit production in the World

4.1.1. A brief history of rabbit husbandry

The domestication of the major livestock species (cattle, sheep, and pigs) and the small species (poultry) lost its prehistory. But rabbit domestication dated back no further than the present millennium (FAO 1997).

The Normans introduced rabbits into Britain soon after the Conquest of 1066. They were originally kept and bred in warrens for meat and fur - a warren being an open or closed area of land in which could consist of several hundred acres. The common color of rabbits consisted grey, silver and black were main breeds of warren rabbit region where often kept called parklands. Some rabbit escaped and interbred with common - grey color were called parkers. Until by the end of the 19th century the wild rabbit had fully established itself, helped by agrarian progress and the hedgerow. Rabbit keeping increased during the 2nd world wars as a means of converting waste food and surplus garden produce into edible meat (Maff 1971). The larger breeds (pure and crossed) were popular for meat production, and dual-purpose breeds for meat and fur.

4.1.2. A brief history of rabbit breeds

During the sixteenth century, breeding of rabbits seemed to have spread across France, Italy, Flanders and England. In 1595, Agricola mentioned the existence of grey-brown (wild), white, black, piebald (black and white) and ash-grey rabbits. In 1606, Oliver de Serres classified three types of rabbits; the wild rabbit, the semi-wild or "warrens" rabbits reared inside walls or ditches, and domesticated rabbit. By the mid- to late-19th century about 13 breeds of rabbits had been established including the Lop, Dutch and Patagonian (Brown 1982). During the first half of the 20th century, many new breeds of rabbits were created by cross and selective breeding. The New Zealand White breeds as for example as a great commercial breed of rabbit that was accepted into the American Standard in 1925 and considered this is innovate for rabbit breeding. The Rex

13

rabbits originated from mutations in 1919, as did the Satins during the 1930's. The Californian, an American breed, was established in 1923 (FAO 1997).

Commercial rabbit breeders who specialize in the production of meat and fur primarily breed New Zealand Whites and California. These breeds are selected for their fast growth rate and their white pelts which can be dyed any color, they seem to be most dominant of all breeds in the world now (BRC 1991).

4.1.3. Rabbit production performance

Medium-weight breeds (4.5 to 6 kg) can be started breeding at 6 to 7 months of age, of which males’ maturity is one month later than females. Because outward signs of heat are not always evident in maturity, a strict breeding schedule should be followed. One buck can service about 10 does, but no more than two to three times a week. The female should be placed in the buck’s cage for breeding since if the buck is put in the cage of the doe she will fight to protect her territory. Mating should occur immediately, and the doe should then be returned to her cage. The average gestation period lasts 31 to 32 days. Twenty-eight days after breeding a nest box should be placed in the cage of the doe. The average commercial litter consists of 8 to 10 baby rabbits. The nest box can be removed 15 to 21 days after birth. The young should be weaned in about 30 days so that the doe will produce five litters a year. The growth performance of rabbits in studies reported from tropical countries is generally in the range of 10-20 g per day, in contrast to 35-40 g per day commonly observed in temperate region (Cheeke 2003).

4.1.4. Rabbit production trade

According to Colin and Lebas (1998), there are 23 countries considered especially strong in rabbit producing in the world, such as Italia, Russia and Ukraine, France, Hungary, which are listed as top rabbit producers. Europe is considered the center of rabbit production. In 1996, the rabbit meat was estimated about 1.2-1.5 million tones, occupying 75% in the world, of which, Italy is the country with the strongest development producing with 300 thousand tones a year, followed by the Confederation of Independent States with 250,000 tones and France with 150 000 tones. In Asian region, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam are common countries for rabbit production compared to the remaining countries in region, in which China is top- rabbit producer with 20 billion rabbits made for meat and fur types for consuming in interior and exporting to Europe markets. The rest of countries were rabbit production as domestic consumption with rabbit producing about 18 thousand tones annually.

Also according Colin and Lebas (1998), of the 23 countries that are specially involved in the import and export market of rabbit meat, nine are export countries, six mainly import and eight both export and import. China and Hungary are dominant exporting countries (24 to 40 thousand tonnes of frozen rabbit products per year). The annual average export of the countries including Italia, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and some East-Europe countries is about 11 to 30 thousand tonnes. Besides meat products, rabbit skin also has high commercial value in the world with France as the leading country to produce rabbit skins with 130 million pieces of skins(FAO 1999).

4.2. Overview rabbit production in Vietnam

4.2.1. Historical and current rabbit production in Vietnam

According to Binh (2003), rabbits have been reared in Vietnam for a long time with scattered location throughout the whole country. At first, rabbits were reared as pets in families, in small

14

numbers. All rabbit breeds at that time were local breeds including gray, black, and multi-colors breeds. Before 1975, rabbits concentrated in traditional households in Hanoi, Saigon, Dalat, and Hue provinces and were not considered as an income source for rural households. In 1976, the total numbers of rabbits were estimated to be 315 thousand, of which 193 thousand rabbits were in the southern provinces. Then in 1983, the rabbit number increased to 450 thousands, of which 190 thousands were in the Northern provinces.

Since 1995, rabbit rearing has been developing along with the market development. Prices of rabbit products doubled between 2000 and 2006. The number of rabbits at present in all of the provinces in Vietnam is estimated to be 7 million rabbits, of which Northern region occupies over 50 %. Rabbit product makes up 13 percent of the total livestock production.

Table 4.1 Rabbit distribution in Vietnam

Regions 2005

(Million)

2006

(Million)

Changed (%)

Whole country

5.887 7.307 12

Northern 2.947 3.828 14

Southern 2.940 3.489 11

Red delta 2.182 2.835 13

Northeastern 0.785 0.810 10

Northwest 0.191 0.197 9

Central 0.160 0.184 10

Highland 0.263 0.276 9

South delta 2.518 2.895 11

Rabbit production trend (2005-06)

012345678

Who le co unt rN orthe rn

Southe rn

R ed d e lt a

N orthe a s te rnN orthw e st

C en tra l

H ig h la n d

So uth de lta

Head

(mill

ion)

20052006

Source: National of animal husbandry department, 2006

In recent years, prices of rabbit products have been raised more than have other animal products. For example, prices of rabbit meat and breed increased from 25 to 50 thousand VND per kg while those of beef increased from 10 to 12 thousand VND. Such increased price brings higher income to farmers and is a motivation for rabbit development in Vietnam.

Table 4.2: The price of animal products changed (000 VND per kg)

Animal species 1990 2000 Changed (%)

1990-2000

2005 Change (%)

2000-2005

15

Goat 8 18 12.5 23 5.5 Sheep 12 20 6.6 27 7.0 Cattle 6 10 6.4 12 4.0 Pigs 8 13 6.2 15 4.0 Local chicken 12 26 11.6 30 3.0 Rabbit 13 25 9.2 35 8.0 Rice 3.1 3 0.9 4 3.5 Goat milk - 7 - 9 5.7 Cow milk 2 3 4 3 1.7

Souse: National of animal husbandry department, 2005

4.2.2 Research for rabbit production in Vietnam

Research on rabbit husbandry in Vietnam is based at the National Goat and Rabbit Research Center (VNGRRC) and has been promoted since 1993.

4.2.2.1 The rabbit breed and diseases

In 1999, the VNGRRC imported three high productivity rabbit breeds from Hungary. After one year, they found out the optimum for the cross breed, and applied in the rural field. The results of research showed that; all of three imported rabbit breeds are successful for farmer to apply in the rural ecology-environment in Vietnam. Moreover, the offspring of the second and the third generation have an improved production of 35 to 45 percent compared to local rabbit breeds.

Results of the research show that the reproductive capacity of rabbits is from 30 to 45 kids per year. At three month of age, they can reach 2.8 to 3.5 kg each. Therefore, it is estimated that one doe is able to give from 80 to 90 kg fryer meat per year (Binh 2003).

Other trials in on-farm conditions in rural areas reported by Luyen suggests that the hybrid production of New Zealand and California breeds is 35,6 percent higher than that of local breeds (Luyen 2004 ). As regards rabbit diseases, research has shown that the most common diseases include Cocidiosis, Diarrhea, E.coli, and Hemorrhagic (VHD). Besides medicine for treatment, the Center also processed vaccines for diseases prevention.

4.2.2.2. Research on rabbit feed systems

Rabbit feed resources are diverse and abundant including crop residue such as maize, soybean, cassava etc, as well as some vegetable residue such as water spinach, cabbage, sweet potatoes. Additionally they use wild green feed resource that are available in rural areas. The research also shows that fodder available for rabbits make them more popular. There are also lower requirements of labor and time resources for rabbit rearing compared to that for other animals. This is important when evaluating rabbit product value (Binh 2003). Rabbit feeds researched by Chat (2003 ) are vegetables including water spinach, cabbage and sweet potato vines. Other research by Hang shows that the combination of tea dregs and wild green feed on farm stations can protect rabbits from diarrhea and reduce 75.5 percent of infections as well as 60.5 percent of medicine cost (Hang 2003 ). This research result is similar to other authors’ and the farmer's experiences.

4.2.2.3. Rabbit housing system

The most obvious limitation to rabbit production in Vietnam is that rabbits are susceptible to heat stress. Ambient temperatures of 350C are comfortable for rabbits in summer but in case the

16

temperature gets higher, production can be limited. This is a difficult situation for farmers. In low areas with high temperatures, especially in typical summer days, people may reduce the heat stress by spraying water onto the roofs or move rabbits to the place under shady trees with good air circulation (Binh 2003).

4.2.2.4. Research on rabbit integrated farming systems and transferring technical

Preston and Murgueitio (1994) show that animal husbandry is integrated into the farming system in a sustainable way and that sustainable use of natural renewable resources will be facilitated when the feed is grown, the animals are fed and the excreta is recycled on the farm in ways that minimize the use of imported inputs including energy”.

Research on rabbit production in integrated farming systems are also conducted in terms of use of rabbit manure for rearing earthworm in small farms, and earthworms used as fishpond feed, as a re-cycling of rabbit excretes to benefit the farm. Also Suc and Ha et al (2000 ) have done research on the use of rabbit excrete as substrates for earthworm rearing, and earthworm used for chicken scavenging, which has given very good result on chicken growth and also refreshed the small householder's environment, as well as used to earthworm - composts source for vegetable production. More research by Chat, Dung et al (2005) used rabbit manure for earthworm, and earthworm compost applied for water spinach growth, indicated that; earth worm compost was superior to other fertilizers on promoting biomass growth and nutrient content of water spinach, as well as fertilizing the soil.

The response of farmers in rural areas is their application. The activities as well as promotion of rabbit product development in National of Rabbit Research Center are: training course organized by technicians and experts who are working in the Center help to give advice on contents related to rabbit rearing techniques. Beside that, co-operation on orientation for rabbit development plays an important role, which helps capacity building for extension staff, designing the rabbit rearing plan under extent that is suitable for each condition.

4.3. Issues of research on station relative to field studies

Many authors have assessed the potential of rabbit production as a contribution to small household economy in tropical regions as follows:

McCroske (2001) suggested that there are many good reasons for rabbit production: rabbit production as an alternative livestock species, rabbit production as a means of utilizing small rural holdings in a profitable manner and rabbit production as an efficient means of converting low quality feed ingredients into meat for human consumption. Rabbit production can also be a family hobby for semi-rural and urban families and at the same time give the families a supply of very nutritious meat. Rabbits have a potential as meat-producing animals in the tropics, particularly on subsistence-type small farms. Such characteristics as small body size (thus low daily feed requirements), short generation intervals, high reproductive potential, rapid growth rate and the ability to utilize forages and fibrous agricultural by-products are attributes in favor of rabbit production (Cheeke 1986).

Surrey (1997) research showed that raising rabbits on a small scale in an urban environment can provide a means of converting gardens and other food wastes into a high quality protein for the family, while also providing excellent manure for gardens, which can be used directly without composting. Cut grass, weeds, hay, straw, surplus or damaged vegetables and fruits, stale bread, and almost any other unspoiled food waste (except for coffee grounds) can be fed to rabbits.

17

In fact, rural farmers, especially poor ones or smallholders, may have difficulty in accessing large animal species such as cattle or dairy cattle. An analysis of the risk and investment capital required suggests that rabbit production is able to reduce household vulnerability compared to other animals. A comparison between dairy cattle and rabbit regarding returns to investment in Vietnam like the fact that normally a dairy kind of cattle costs about 15 million VND, which is equal to the amount paid for 75 rabbit, which again can give 1,500 rabbits after one year. When comparing their product value, cattle can give 38 million VND in total (milk and beef dairy involvement), while rabbits can give 50 million VND in total (including meat and rabbit breed). In case of bad luck, the whole dairy cattle may be lost, while diseases on rabbits would not result in the loss of all (Binh 2003).

Against the background of these high expectations, this study attempts to explore the farmer experiences, both positive and negative, of rabbit production in their day-to-day life. Previous research has focused on on-farm trials with a high influence from research staff. The following study attempts to understand the opportunities and constraints in relation to rabbit production that occurs in the everyday context of household livelihoods.

The farmers in the study sites identified rabbit benefits for small households. They showed similar advantage factors of rabbit production to those mentioned above. However,, rabbit farmers also coped with a lot of constraints in this context; technology (skills, knowledge of diseases), feed resources when rearing rabbits on a large scale as well as the absence of detailed supporting policies. Moreover, habits, price/market for both producers and consumers are issues that are still limiting rabbit development in Vietnam.

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CHAPTER V: STUDY SITES

The chapter describes the two study sites (Communes of Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh) and their settings in Ninh Binh province and Nho Quan District in terms of location and geo-economic situation. A brief introduction of rabbit husbandry situation and description of the issues related to rabbit production in this area is also included in this chapter.

5.1. Location

Ninh Binh is an agricultural province in the Red River Delta, bordering to Ha Nam in the North, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa provinces to the East, Nam Dinh to the West, and the south borders the East Sea. Ninh Binh province has social, cultural and economic relationship with those provinces on Highway No. 1, the River Day and the River Hong, and with North-South railway.

Nho Quan is a mountainous district located in northwest of Ninh Binh province. It borders Hoa Binh province to the north and Thanh Hoa province to the west. In total, the district has eight communes, two of which are located in a plain area. In general, Nho Quan district has an agricultural production pattern with hilly land - mountainous - low land farming systems. Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes belong to Nho Quan district. Ninh Phuc is one of the three communes located in the plain area in the northwest of Nho Quan district; Yen Binh is located in a hilly and apart of mountainous area of the northeast of this district.

5.2. Physical-economic characteristics

Ninh Binh is still a poor province covering 670 thousand hectares of land including 550 thousand hectares of cultivated land, 130 thousand hectares of forests, 200 thousand hectares of mountains and the rest being rivers and ponds. The mountainous and hilly land takes up 23% of the total area of the province. The total population is 0.91 million with 78% working in agricultural sector with average food being 518 kg per capital per year. The whole province has six districts and two towns divided into 144 communes and precincts. Besides farming, handcraft sector including

19

embroidery, sedge mat weave is also a career in some of the district. The population density is the highest in Ninh Binh town with 453 persons/km2.

Table 5.1. Some characteristics of the Ninh Binh province

Items Indicator

Total area (000. ha) 1,4 Total population (million) 0.91 Average per capita GDP ($) 352 Contribution of agriculture sector in GDP (%) 18 Contribution of industrial and construction sectors in GDP (%) 21 Contribution of services and commercial sectors in GDP (%) 26 Population working in agriculture sector (%) 78 Average of agriculture per capita (m2) 1.105 Total value of agriculture production (million) 1,857 Total number of pigs (000 heads) 586 Total number of cattle (000 heads) 157 Number of rabbit increased 2000-2005(%) 14 Total number of rabbit (000 heads) 65,000

Source: Ninh Binh statistical and extension department, 2005

Nho Quan district is a mountainous and hilly area located far from the centre with natural land of 46 thousand hectares (33% being agriculture land and the remaining is mountainous, hilly land and deserted land). The total population is 143.6 thousand people working in agriculture sector. The population consists of Kinh people (90%) and the remaining is Muong ethnic minority. However, people carry out agricultural activities together. The population density is 302 persons/km2 mainly concentrating in the central areas.

Ninh Phuc commune is a town side in the plain area located in Nho Quan district; it is more advantages than Yen Binh on the vegetable crop production, transportation, and commercial transaction. There are with 9 villages in total. This commune is situated in the region of a typical monsoon climate of the Northern Delta. The annual average temperature is 26.4 degrees C with the lowest temperature level being 15 degrees C and the hottest 36 degrees C in summer. Moisture and humidity are 78% on average. The rainy season begins early October lasting till January of the next year.

The soil here is fertile, soft and light with cultivated depth being about 25cm from the surface, and this is suitable for intercropping of maize, soybeans and rice. An irrigation system is not so much water supply, most of which depends on water supplied by the Day River, and partially depends on water effluence source of National thermo-electricity, so this commune sometimes faces shortage of water for crop activities, especially in the dry season that is reason why this commune could not in two rice cultivation so that they are changed to other kind of planted in the rest time by more vegetable crop production. This is reason rabbit feed source more diverts than Yen Binh commune (source: local authority)

The total natural area is 635.5 ha, of which 244.5 ha is for two rice harvests, 75 ha for home gardens, and the remaining for ponds and lakes. In the commune, there are 2,058 households with 8,238 habitants including 4,008 people being the main labor force. The majority (80%) of the inhabitants work in the agricultural sector, 10% work as employees and the rest are working in

20

other fields. Keeping livestock such as pigs, cattle, rabbits, and poultry in general is the main income source of the locals at 60%. The traffic system of the commune is improved, serving the need of traveling and transactions.

Yen Binh commune is quite different from Ninh Phuc. In general, it is located in a hilly and partly a mountainous area isolated from central areas. The commune constitutes 8 villages with 1,307 households with 5,325 habitants mainly working in low land cultivation areas and a small proportion from 3 other villages working in forestry. The soil here is characterized as being hard in hilly areas (exhausted gray soil), and that in the field has low fertility, containing aluminous soil. Estimated cultivated depth is just about 10-15 cm from the surface in both areas. These difficult conditions lead to low productivity with rice yield being at 120 – 130 kg per sao∗, while in Ninh Phuc the figures are 160 – 170 kg per sao (source: local authority).

The total area of natural land in this commune is 874 hectares, including 350 hectares of land for rice crops, 470 hectares of forestry and mountains, 20 hectares for homes and gardens, and the remaining is wasteland. The local people mainly work in the agricultural sector (90%), employed work at 5%, and the rest are working in other fields. As a result, people’s income is mainly from agricultural sources (cultivation production at 10%, livestock production at 80% (including pigs, cattle, rabbits, and poultry), and some families earn their living by running small businesses or enjoying their pension wages. According to the local report of annual planning, the local traffic system in general is still poorly connected to the center by the 59A trail, a narrow interior road system that is difficult for people’s transportation and transaction in the local area.

5.3. Overview of rabbit-rearing situation in Ninh Binh province, Nho Quan district and two study sites

Rabbit rearing in Ninh Binh province has been developed in all the eight districts. In general, the number of rabbits increased by 8.5% and rabbit households increased to 12% between 2000 and 2005 (Ninh Binh Extension Department, 2006). According to the Vice Head of Ninh Binh Extension Department, the positive figures above are thanks to the Ninh Binh People’s Committee’s efforts in recent years to push rabbit development through such policies as supporting funds for capacity building, upgrading local rabbit breeds, promoting co-operation with research institutes and centers for rabbit production.

Following the other districts in Ninh Binh province, Nho Quan district began involving itself in rabbit rearing just a few years ago.

∗ 1 sao= 360 m2

21

Figure 5.1 Rabbit distribution in Nho Quan

No. rabbits 2005-2006

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Ninh Phu

c

Yen Binh

Yen Son

Phu Lon

g

Hoang P

hu

NhoQuan

town

Quynh

Son

Quynh

Luu

Communes

No.

Rab

bits

(000

hea

ds)

2005

2006

No. rabbit households 2005-2006

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Ninh Phu

c

Yen Binh

Yen Son

Phu Lon

g

Hoang P

hu

NhoQuan

town

Quynh

Son

Quynh

Luu

Communes

No.

rabb

it h

ouse

hold

s

2005

2006

Source: Nho Quan, Agricultural Department, 2006

According to the staff of Nho Quan Agricultural Department, rabbit production was low in all eight communes in the district. There were significant increases in both places when the number of rabbits and rabbit keepers between 2005 and 2006 rose by up to 9% and 14.3%, respectively. Rabbit keeping develops in both Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh Commune but there are still constraints due to technology and knowledge of the industry lying not only in the farmers but also in the expertise in the district as a whole. (Source: Nho Quan District, Agricultural Department, 2006).

According to the key informants of Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, rabbits have been reared for a long time, initially as family pets on a small scale and quite scattered. A milestone was seen in 2001 in Ninh Phuc, earlier than Yen Binh and until now rabbit husbandry is still developing. Yen Binh since 2003 has seen considerable expansion of rabbit keeping, although timing is later than Ninh Phuc.

In 2006, the total number of rabbit-keeping households in Ninh Phuc Commune reached 135 (6.5% of all the households in the commune). The number of rabbits and households increased to 18.6% and 13.3%, respectively, between 2005 and 2006. This commune got some support from the province’s extension department in building up demonstrations and building capacity for key rabbit farmers in the Gardening Association at that time (source: Head of Gardening Association of Ninh Phuc commune, 2007). In Yen Binh commune, there are 104 households that keep rabbits (7.9% of the entire households in the commune). Rabbit population and rabbit keepers both increased to 13% and 12.3%, in respective, between 2005 and 2006. However, this commune has not got any support for rabbit production. Most of the farmers rear rabbits just from their own experience (source: Head of Farmers’ Association of Yen Binh Commune, 2007) .

22

Rabbit food supplies in the two communes are mainly from crops residue, sub-parts of vegetables, and wild green food found around the hills or fields. Rabbit production market is targeted at middleman collection, some going to local markets and other places (source: key informants in the two communes). However, rabbit productivity in natural fields is still lower than that in the research station. Specifically, the percentage of survival of 3-month-old rabbits is 10-20% lower, 3-month-old rabbits’ weight is 12 to 20 percent lower and the population of rabbits per year is 37 to 60 percent of that in the research sites.

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CHAPTER VI: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter shows the field research results based on data and information collected. A presentation of data and information including general information, household activities and income generating, the main factors influencing rabbit production and household economy is presented. The part also shows opportunities and constraints of rabbit production in the two sites.

6.1. Household situations and activities in study sites

This part gives an overview of household status and agricultural activities in which crops and other animals (mainly cattle, pigs, chickens) are analyzed to highlight rabbit husbandry in the households in the two study communes.

6.1.1. Household status

Before going to the details in this part, the author would like to interpret why we have seen only two household different groups (medium and better off) in the two communes. This is because the two communes have escaped from poor situation since 2000 and 2001 (Source: local authorities).

Table 6.1 Household status and income generation

Items Ninh Phuc (n=45) Yen Binh (n=35) Medium

(n=26) Better-off (n=19)

Medium (n=21)

Better-off (n=14)

Family size (people) 4.5 4.7 4.8 5.3 Male (people) 2.3 2.5 2 2.3 Female (people) 2.5 2.7 2.8 3.1 Main labor (people) 1.4 1.8 2.1 2.6 Sub labor (people) 3.2 2.9 2.7 2.8 Resident land (sao♣) 2.1 2.7 2.2 2.5 Riceland (sao) 3.8 4.5 3.5 4.5 Cropland (sao) 2.2 2.8 5.6 8.8 Income from rabbit product (million VND/year)

4.5 8.5 2.8

4.5

Income from cattle, pigs, crop products and other sources (million VND/year)

10.5 14.7 8.3 11.5

Total income (million VND/year) 15 23.2 11.1 16

Source: Household survey in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

Residential land and rice land of farmers in the two communes in both medium and better-off household groups were similar around 2.1-2.2 sao and 2.5-2.7 sao, respectively. The crops that are mainly produced in Ninh Phuc commune include vegetables, maize and soybeans, while in Yen Binh commune, the hill land area is dominant, so farmers usually grow two crops of sweet potatoes and cassava along with maize and soybean as in Ninh Phuc commune.

Table 5.1 shows the family size; in general, the average number of main labor people in the medium group is in the range of 1.4-2.1 persons and that of 1.8- 2.6 persons in the better-off household group in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, respectively. The proportion of male and female in both household classes is not so significantly different at a mean of 2.3/2.5 and ♣ 1 sao =360m2

24

2.5/2.7 people. However, in Yen Binh commune only, there is a remarkable difference of the average of 2/2.8 persons in the medium households and 3/3.1 persons in the better-off households. According to key informants it is suggested that sub labor are those who could not participate in hard work such as ploughing or harvesting in households. The data from the survey showed that there is no difference in the sub labor proportion between the two communes at a mean of 2.7-3.2 people in both groups; therefore, these sub-labor are considered significant to operate in rabbit rearing (this will be discussed in detail in the section of labor source for rabbit production).

From household interviews, it is shown that the main income source comes from agriculture production, and from the data we can see that, in general, the gross income generated by the better off household group is higher than the medium groups in the two communes; however, a comparison between the two different groups, shows that the better-off household group in Yen Binh commune has approximately a gross income as high as that of the medium households in Ninh Phuc commune (16 and 15 million VND totally per year). Meanwhile the better off in Ninh Phuc have generated the highest gross income at 23.2 million VND per year.

6.1.2. Agriculture production

6.1.2.1. Crop cultivation

Crop cultivation is a mainly traditional activity for households in both communes. Farmers in these locations always need this activity. The selected farmers state that crop production is the main food source for family consumption and sold for cash money for other purposes. On the other hand, crop cultivation is significant also for livestock husbandry; it is an important source for feeding animals.

In Ninh Phuc commune, about 80% of the households are working in crop cultivation which mainly consists of two-rice crop annually. Beside that, three other crops including maize, soybean, and vegetables are intercropped at the intervals between the two rice crops. According to rabbit farmers here, the main part of the vegetables or other crops production is sold to markets to get money for other family purposes. The crop residue will be used to feed rabbits as the main source of animals’ daily diets and on average two-third of green feed is vegetable and the remaining is residue from crop production.

In Yen Binh commune, the households that are involved in crop cultivation account for over 90 percent of the total. The vast majority of farmers can only grow one rice crop during the period of February to May as they cannot access the next rice crop because of flood influence. Other crops such as maize, soybean, and sweet potato are intercropped with the mono rice crop in the interval of three months lasting from June to September. Furthermore, cassava is planted in the hill area. The farmers use rice as their main food. However, one rice crop cannot provide families with enough food and the shortage from another crop will be compensated by sale of other crop products such as maize, sweet potato, soybean which helps farmers to buy rice and meet other families’ demand. From discussions it was clear that rabbit farmers also used residues from the crop production above for feeding rabbits with an amount accounting for one third of the whole diet. The remaining is from wild green feed collected around the hill area, however only very few products from cassava crop are used, because it is a long-term crop lasting nine to ten months (from January to December) and at that time its leaves fall down and can not be collected. Additionally, rabbits do not like to eat this feed so much. Also according to the Head of Farmer Association, most farmers have hill land by local authority delivery with 20 to 30 years user rights.

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This is significant for farmers, not only for crop production but also to support livestock husbandry.

During the discussions of crop cultivation in the two communes, most farmers indicated five main constraint issues they have to cope with, including high input costs, low prices, pest problems, poor soil quality and poor irrigation systems for crop activity. The farmers in Ninh Phuc commune identified pest as the most important, and low price as second. Subsequent issues are minor. But in Yen Binh commune, the farmers state that the irrigation system for crops is the most important because this issue affects directly the rice cultivation. The second issue there was the low return on crop production. Most of these issues are relevant to crop yields, especially in Yen Binh commune where the rice yield is lower than in other communes and only equals to three fourth compared with other communes in the district (Source: Group discussion and Nho Quan agriculture department, 2007).

Of the labor force in the two communes, most of labor sources for crop cultivation come from main labor (husband, wife, and adult people in the household). The Head of Gardening Association and Head of Farmer Associations said that although crop activities seem to be full time annually, referring to labor cost into crop production, the cost is still much lower than compared to other products.

In summary, although crop activities in the two communes have a few similarities in general, the conditions in this context have some differences. Ninh Phuc commune seems to have a good irrigation system but agriculture land is smaller per household. In Yen Binh commune, farmers have larger land area with the hill land for cassava crop added, but the rice crop activity is constrained (only one rice crop) during the flood period. However, crop production is mainly for human consumption, sub labors who are not involved in fieldwork are the basis for livestock husbandry in the households.

6.1.2.2. Livestock husbandry

Of the sample of 45 farmers in Ninh Phuc and 35 farmers in Yen Binh commune selected for interviews, most of them said that livestock production is the main source for household income and support for cultivation such as cattle draught power supply, manure source for higher soil fertility. In general, most of the farmers in the two communes keep cattle, pigs and rabbits which have been reared over the last four to six years. Farmers indicated that chickens were not the main household income; it is just for family consumption and in small numbers.

Table 6.2, from farmer interviews, shows livestock husbandry and issues in the two communes that were identified and assessed by farmers. These included marketing problems such as price, market problem etc, labor and time that farmers need main labor (wife or husband) or sub labor (children or old people) in livestock management, technology accessibility/skill for disease treatment, level of importance of feed access and who in the family are responsible for management. Each column is for each animal respectively, and each row is respectively for issues related to livestock husbandry, presented by percentage of farmer assessment. The result of assessment of these issues shows which animals are considered advantage/ constraint in households.

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Table 6.2: The main problems of livestock production in households

Ninh Phuc Yen Binh Item Cattle (n= 28 HHs)

Pigs (n= 42 HHs)

Rabbit (n=45 HHs)

Cattle (n= 21 HHs)

Pigs (n= 41 HHs)

Rabbit (n=35 HHs)

Price/market problems (%)

22.5 23.1 29.7 35.7 25.4 33.3

Much time and labor used (%)

41.4 41.5 16.5 44.5 46.7 3.7

Lack on technique (%)

17.7 10 44.9 10.8 8.4 61.5

Feed resources/housing assessment

Easily purchased (%)

27.7 23.5 94.6 45.8 40.5 92.6

Medium purchased (%)

34.6 44.6 12.3 65.6 33.8 24.6

Difficult purchased (%)

37.7 31.9 9.7 25.3 25.7 6.5

Housing material available (%)

35.3 42.3 87.1 34.3 51.4 93.3

Whose responsibility

Wife (%) 38.5 51.4 58.6 34.5 55.7 100 Husband (%) 17.4 27.7 29.7 12.1 20.3 31.7 Children (%) 23.1 11.1 92 55.4 13.9 92.8 Old people (%) 21 9.8 67.6 10 10.1 70.5

Source: Household survey in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

In both communes, cattle have been reared for a long time for reproduction, draught power, and manure source purposes. Further, in their perception, cattle are one of most important assets among households. On average, a household in the two communes kept one kind of cattle for reproduction and farmers can get one beef cattle per year.

As for cattle feed sources in Ninh Phuc commune, most of the cattle are gazing in the field or road sides, where public areas can be accessed. However, land for cattle grazing here seems to be limited compared to the population increase over time (source: Head of gardening association). Discussions with farmers showed that here, farmers also used residues from crop production such as maize leaf and small amounts of soybean leaf for cattle. Regarding feed processing for cattle, most farmers never processed feed into feed supplement except combining the rice brand available with commercial feed that they bought from outside for beef cattle during the fattening period. In Yen Binh commune, feed and management for cattle is similar. However, it is the hill land that brings about more advantages for cattle grazing in the hill land where they have user rights and natural leaves from the part of the mountain area that is open to public management.

Regarding pigs, farmers in two communes kept an average of 3 to 4 pigs per household for sale twice per year. As farmers discussed, most of them kept pigs to make use of crop residue products that are available in the household and can be converted for profit. But in fact they assess it as low

27

price at that time, and one farmer said, "Keeping pigs is money saving sometimes”. However, sometimes they face diseases that they can not control such as foot and mouth disease and they consider the value of pigs as low as they use a lot of feed volume, much time and labor but get low price in return.

Most pig feed source comes from the farmer’s available source in the household such as fresh mixed vegetable twice a day. Other sources such as maize leaf or soybean leaf that a pig could not eat are used for rabbits or cattle as well. In general, the feed type that pigs require is more selective than that of rabbits and cattle, most fresh feed comes from vegetables. The reason why farmers always keep these animals is also because they can use residue from crop/vegetable products for pigs and thus convert to household profits and they provide a good available manure resource for the fields.

Although cattle and pig feed sources are available in communes, they require a big feed volume along with more labor and time usage. The data collected in the two communes showed that if a household has cattle, pigs, and rabbits, 41.4% to 46.7% of the main labor force is spent for cattle and pigs. This means that most of the main labor was used for cattle and pigs, not for rabbits and this is because of low requirement of rabbit feed quantity. One farmer said: "in my family there are four people in total of whom two are still of school age; I have cattle, pigs, rabbits and a few chickens. Normally, I work in the field and the home garden and hiring out labor for the rest of the time. Cattle and pig management is mainly the responsibility of my wife, as in the morning she spends about 3-4 hours to collect pig and rabbit feeds and then takes cattle grazing in the field. In the afternoon, she takes the cattle grazing again and returns to spend about one hour for pig feed collection. During her time in cattle grazing in the afternoon, my children collect rabbit feed"

Regarding chicken rearing, data from the interviews showed that in Ninh Phuc commune of 27.3% households kept chickens; in Yen Binh 36% household of the total sample but most of them kept a very small number, around five to eight chickens per household. According to the conversations with the farmers, they keep chickens scavenging in the home gardens without feed supplement. The farmers do not care if the chicken contribute to household income, it just as food for family consumption. Furthermore, they are afraid of rearing chicken intensively which means that they need a lot of capital investment for housing, commercial feed, and veterinary services as bird flu in recent years make them scared. These reasons explain why the chicken population did not expand in the two communes recently.

In general, in the study site, animals need large feed volumes along with much labor and time as well as management. In this context, cattle and pigs need more labor and time for use than rabbits do. Referring to the table above, wives and husbands were responsible for cattle and pig management in the two communes. As the main labor source is used instead of using sub labor working, it may affect other jobs in the homes. On the contrary, the labor used in rabbit rearing is mainly the wife, children, and old people; as rabbits do not need as much labor as cattle and pigs.

In summary, although rabbit rearing has been added, other household activities have not changed in general. Discussions on this issue with farmers in the two communes showed that most of them have combined all of works in their household with rabbit husbandry. When looking at the value of the animals, although converted into monetary value it is low, it is still significant for rural households where livestock husbandry is still on a small scale level because they are important assets. That is the reason why farmers still maintain them.

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6.1.2. Livestock products income

Income from livestock production calculated by farmers balancing inputs and outputs included; (i) input comprises all of materials that farmer invested such as commercial feed, veterinary, those farmers have to buy from outside; (ii) income is the total of livestock production traded and purchased annually referring into cash (VND).

Table 6.3: Income from cattle and pigs products in households

Household status No.pig selling (head)

SE

No.cattle selling

(head)

SE

Ninh Phuc better off (n= 16)

Mean

3.3

0.57

1.27

0.12

Yen Binh better off (n= 11)

Mean

4.1

1.04

1.14

0.08

Ninh Phuc medium (n= 22)

Mean

2.5

0.92

1

0.21

Yen Binh medium (n= 18)

Mean

3.2

0.94

1.15

0.15

Source: Household survey in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

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Figure 6.1: Income from cattle and pigs products in households

Income from cattle and pigs products (per year)

1.411.04

1.291.06

2.5

1.9

2.96

1.71

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Better off Medium Better off Medium

NinhPhuc YenBinh

Uni

t (m

illio

n V

ND

)

Income cattleIncome pigs

Source: Household survey in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

Farmers kept local cattle breed for the dual purposes of reproduction and as draught power. As seen in Table 6.3, most of the farmers kept an average of 1-1.27 cattle, they just only sell beef cattle one time per year and can gain on average 1.04 to 1.41 million VND per year in both groups in two communes. Regarding pigs, farmers kept pigs and used residue from crop and vegetable resources available in their household as feed. In Table 6.3 it can be seen that farmers can sell pig products at an average from 2.5 to 4 pigs in both groups per year, and they can get from 1.7 to 2.96 million VND per year (see diagram 6.1). However, farmers in Yen Binh gained more than farmers Ninh Phuc from pig products, because farmers in Yen Binh have more feed available from crop products so they do not need to buy feed from outside. In summary, according to farmers in the two commune’s assessment: the value of crops, cattle and pig products in the two communes was still low, mostly for reasons of low price and low input investment. However, farmers maintained them because it is one of basis of their livelihood.

6.2. Rabbit production in sites study

This part has a focus on analysis of the rabbit situation; the rabbit productive performance capacity in two communes.

6.2.1. Rabbit development timing

The analysis is based on the sample of 45 of the 135 households involved in rabbit rearing totally in Ninh Phuc commune and the sample of 35 of 104 rabbit rearing households totally in Yen Binh commune, showed that rabbit rearing started a long time ago (no exact date).

Table 6.4: The rabbit development timing and situation in households

Commune Started time

Local breed P Rabbit hybrid breed P

30

Min (Head)

Mean (Head)

Max (Head)

Min (Head)

Mean (Head)

Max (Head)

Ninh Phuc(n=45)

2001 8.2 10.3 17.5 0.05 11.4 17.3 20.5 0.05

Present (n=45)

- - - 0.05 32.3 43.2 70.3 0.05

Yen Binh(n=35)

2003 10.4 12.1 15.4 0.05 - - - 0.05

Present (n=35)

- - - 0.05 15.5 22.3 40.5 0.05

Source: Household survey in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

Yet, although farmers have been rearing rabbits for a long time in the commune, farmers seem not to have much considered the role rabbit production plays in household economics before. Thus in this research we considered the time of rabbit development as a milestone for rabbit production as contribution to household economy and also compared the rabbit production income between the two communities. Table 6.4 shows that at the beginning of rabbit development in two communes there is not much difference; Ninh Phuc started rabbit development earlier in 2001 and in Yen Binh later in 2003. At the beginning, the rabbit situation and rabbit breed keeping (in local breed type) in the two communes was similar (min at 8-10 to max at 15-17 rabbit heads per household), however in Yen Binh without introducing the hybrid type. At present, the rabbit situation is different between two communes; in Ninh Phuc rabbit heads ranged from 32 to 70 heads, but in Yen Binh just ranged from 15 to 40 heads per household. Thus time for rabbit keeping affected the rabbit expanding trend.

In Yen Binh commune, rabbit production was developed later. Farmers in the commune did not have any support for rabbit rearing. According to the Head of the Farmer Association, farmers expanded their rabbit operation by themselves from experience. Since 2003, after the bird flu appeared, more and more farmers have considered rabbit production. They are doing an upgrade of breeds by buying New Zealand White breed to cross with local rabbit breed into hybrids. At the time of the survey all farmers had stopped rearing local rabbits and instead, they raise hybrid rabbits with an average number of 22.3 rabbits being kept by a household.

31

Figure 6.2. Changed of rabbit production in households

Changed of rabbit households 2005-2006

102

84

135

104

0

30

60

90

120

150

NinhPhuc YenBinh

Communes

% N

o. h

ouse

hold

s cha

nge

2005

2006

Changed of No. rabbits 2005-2006

22001780

4100

2300

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

NinhPhuc YenBinh

CommunesN

o of

rab

bits

cha

nge(

head

20052006

Source: Household survey in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

Along with rabbit breed improvement, the number of rabbits and households involved also increased, as presented by data and information from key informants in the two communes between 2005 and 2006 indicating that in Ninh Phuc commune, rabbit population and keepers both increased by 18.6% and 13.3%. In Yen Binh commune, while the household figures are not lower so far at 12.3% of number households, the number of rabbits is quite different at 13% increase in comparison to Ninh Phuc commune. That is a significant increase of households, looking from milestone to present, although farmers in Yen Binh seem to have more difficulties than Ninh Phuc such as lack of knowledge, skill, insufficient technical support etc. However, when looking at the increased number of households there are more than in Ninh Phuc. Why this is so, is probably because farmers in Yen Binh have better conditions such as wild green feed source and larger land, and thus more residue crop products than Ninh Phuc.

6.2.2. Rabbit produce performances

According to Cheeke (2003), rabbits are able to start breeding at 4.5 to 5 months of age, and rabbit commercial selling can start around three months of age. The average gestation period lasts 31 to 32 days. The average commercial litter consists of 8 to 10 baby rabbits. The young should be weaned in about 30 days, so that the doe will produce five to seven litters a year and one doe can give about 55 kids per year. In Vietnam, station research indicates that rabbits are able to give births to an average of 6 to 7 litters per doe per year and consists of 7 to 8 kids per litter, so that a doe will produce a total of about 45 to 50 kids annually (Binh, 2003).

Table 6.5: Rabbit produce performance capacity in households

Items Ninh Phuc (n=45) Yen Binh(n=35) Mean SE Mean SE Litter/year 5.6 0.7 4.5 0.8 Kid/liter 6.8 0.65 7.2 0.53 % Weaned (1 month age) 80 70.5

32

% Survive (at 3 month age for selling) 72 62.4 Live weight at 3 month age (kg) 2.65 0.34 2.4 0.4 Total of rabbits/doe/year (approximated) 22 14

Source: Household survey in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

When assessing rabbit production in small households one should look at the main characteristics of rabbit produces such as live weight of rabbit at 3 months and total number of rabbit produced per doe per year. From the household interviews in the two sites, as Table 5.4 shows, rabbit produce performance in both communes is different in all of the characteristics compared. In Yen Binh commune (14 rabbits/doe/year), just equals 63% compared with rabbit farmers in Ninh Phuc commune (22 rabbits/doe/year), and it is so far a gap of one-third to half of rabbits total per doe per year, and also equally one-third of rabbit live weight at three months age compared with the results of research on station.

In conclusion, reasons for these differences indicate that farmer capacity for rabbit management in Yen Binh commune is weak and leads to low rabbit production even when rabbit characteristics such as litter per doe per year or kid per litter that rabbits produce.

6.3. Factors influence to rabbit production

A small-scale rabbit production conceptual framework model as suggests by Lukefahr (1998) showed that, three factors influence success of rabbit programs; Internal factors (i) includes breed, labor and time sources, available feed resources, materials and equipment for building houses; Intermediate factors (ii) comprise feasibility and evaluation of programs; External factors (iii) are ecological, economical, and sociological.

But in practice, rural farmers rear rabbit by themselves. So the researcher had to investigate two main factors influencing rabbit production, namely: internal factors (breed, human source, feed resources, material for housing and management) and external factors (rabbit in the farming systems, technical support, and marketing).

6.3.1. Internal factors

Looking at the practical picture of the two study sites, the internal factors include what assets those farmers have that are relevant to rabbit production.

6.3.1.1. Rabbit breed sources

Rabbit breed source can identify that where farmer are purchased and how much rabbit female and male proportion at beginning for investigation. However, in fact it is depend farmer’s capacity condition such as fund, technical level, and feed source and so on. Although, Binh suggests two ways; five does and one buck or nine does and one buck for starting investment applied on a small scale for smallholders in rural household at staring time for rabbit rearing.

Actually, in both communes, the farmers started with a small capital investment for rabbit breeding. Initially they invested in on average 3 to 4 does and one buck per household, and a calculated whole weight of 10 to 12 kg total: If the average rabbit breed price (2001-2003) is about 20 thousand VND per kg that is equal to 200-250 thousand VND total for the whole investment.

Information from the interviewed households in the two communes shows that the farmers approach rabbit breeding from three sources (Table 6.6). Although paying by cash is dominant (44.4% to 46.4%) among farmers, borrowing, other as rabbit breed offer from neighbors, and a

33

combination of those in communes are interesting ways. This means that rabbits do not require so much capital investment as other animals like cattle, and pigs.

Table 6.6 Access to rabbit breeds.

Commune Borrowed breed

Buy by cash Other as offer Combination

HH % HH % HH % HH %

Ninh Phuc(n=45) 10 22.2 20 44.4 8 16.7 14 30.6

Yen Binh(n=35) 9 25 16 46.4 6 17.9 10 28.6

Source: Household survey in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

As an example a farmer in Ninh Phuc said:" The first time I bought two does and one buck weighing 7.5 kg in total and it cost 100 thousand VND. I then got offered two more rabbit does from my cousin. Because rabbit is best reproductively and the number increases quickly, I now have 15 does in my rabbit house ".

Another farmer in Yen Binh said: "I bought four does and one buck equal to 10.5 kg and paying 150 thousand VND in my hometown during the local traditional festival in 2002. They are very reproductive and up to now I usually sell over 80 rabbits annually to neighbors and middleman".

In summary, rabbit keeping at a small scale (5 does and one buck) as farmers in this study had done illustrates a simple and easy approach for rural farmers at the starting time. It does not require much capital investment; by other ways farmers can access rabbit breed in the communes.

6.3.1.2. Rabbit house material resources

Housing for rabbits requires very simple construction materials, small space and easily application.

The study shows that 87% of the 45 rabbit households interviewed in Ninh Phuc and 93% of 35 rabbit households in Yen Binh used available sources such as bamboo, woods etc as material and equipment for constructing the rabbit houses. Most of the material comes from recycling sources used for pig cattle or human houses. Rabbit houses are also easily designed and do not require as large space as other animal houses.

Observations showed that most of the rabbit houses that farmers designed are a combination of the traditional and model types. Farmers also calculated the cost invested in the rabbit house; normally each cage (approximate 0.5 square meter for one doe or 3 to 4 rabbits confined) if recycled materials are used, each cage cost around 50 thousand VND. By comparison a rabbit house of the industrial type used in NGRRC costs about 600 thousand VND for each cage (Binh 2003).. As evidence a farmer in Yen Binh commune said:" I used recycled material from the cattle barn and our own house as roof and some bamboo for the rabbit house, it is really simple and easily found in our local area. I use the pig’s house as a place for rabbits as we do not continue with pigs since we changed to rabbit rearing. I invested only 250 thousand VND for 40 rabbits". Another farmer in Ninh Phuc commune said: "I used the old chicken house for rabbits when I stopped chicken rearing in 2003. The rabbit house is simple; I just repaired the chicken house and converted it into a rabbit house style. It's only 300 thousand invested for rearing 45 rabbits”

Thus because rabbits are an animal breed with small body size, and do not need elaborate houses or equipment (for feeding, water troughs etc) their requirements are not as complicated as for

34

other animals. Furthermore, farmers perceived recycling whatever they can to reduce investment cost also contributes to the household profitability.

6.3.1.3. Rabbit feed resources and management

Rabbits are herbivores and can be successfully raised on diets that are low in grains and high in roughage according to the findings from Surrey (1997) and Binh (2003).

The rabbit feed sources that were discussed by farmers and observed in the households in the two sites showed that almost all farmers interviewed in Ninh Phuc commune used rabbit green feeds mainly from the three following sources: self planted in home gardens, wild green feeds in the field or cuttings from crop residue/vegetable production. The farmers estimated that of the green feed used, 40% came from home gardens; 36% was residue from crops/vegetables and 24% was collected in the fields when required. Besides the green feed, rabbits also required small amounts of concentrate such as rice bran supplement in the ration.

Rabbit feed type was also listed by farmers in the two communes. They included vegetable sources planted in the home gardens and used daily for rabbits and pigs or crop by-products from maize, soybean under foliage that pigs or cattle could not eat much of was used only for rabbits. Additional feed sources were of feed supplement type such as corn kernels, soybean seeds, sweet potato roots that farmers did not process into meal for pigs, but used directly for the rabbits.

There were also some integrated farming systems in the households in the two communes where the farmers intercropped some tree species for animals. They included leguminous trees such as Tricanthera and Flemingia macrophylla, which are good species for animal feed and also good for improving soil quality by fixed nitrogen from air into soil, and a good fuel source for cooking. Those trees as feed sources could combination used for between rabbit, pigs, poultry and fishpond in Tricanthera tree in fresh type or Flemingia macrophylla tree with cattle and even poultry in fresh or dry type. Besides the rabbit green feeds above, farmers utilized used tea leaves for example as daily feed supplement for rabbits and this one is also known in treatment of diarrhea diseases and to increase feed quantity.

The farmers could estimate feed quantity used by each rabbit per day by the method described by Mrs X in Ninh Phuc as “In my rabbit house there are always around 40 rabbits. I can estimate the feed each rabbit uses daily. Normally they consume from 0.3 to 0.5 kg each. From that I can calculate feed volume for all the rabbits ".

In Yen Binh commune, interviews with farmers indicated that rabbit feed sources have become more diverse because they have access to wild green feed sources that they can harvest in the hill areas for free. It also follows that the farmers accounted for each feed resource as the wild green feed occupying 46%; home garden 22%, and residues from crop production 24%. In justification for this a rabbit farmer in Yen Binh said:" green feed for rabbits in our commune is more diversified than for other animals, often collected by my wife, child and my parents. Wild green feed harvested in the hill area is easily available and we combine native with planted vegetables" or another farmer said: "I have 43 rabbits in total (of which 11 does and one buck). Green feed is easy to search and harvest in the hill area behind my house. Normally, green feed is collected by my parents and child when they finish school; they just spend about 3 hours daily (twice for morning and afternoon) and can get 20-25 kg for enough of quality feed for rabbits"

Daily tasks for rabbit keeping include breeding, feeding, cleaning and management and the labor source is primarily provided by household members. Using observations and group discussions this study showed that on average, with the number of 30 to 40 rabbits that farmers keep, they

35

just need one labor or two sub-labors for management, which is similar to the research results carried out by Lukefahr and H.l.Nkwocha et al. (2000); Cheeke (1990) on small scale rabbit farming in Cameroon.

In practice, this study shows (Table 6.4 in two communes) that in Ninh Phuc commune where farmers had a minimum of 30 rabbits to 70 rabbits maximum, household members participated in management as follows (Table 6.2 in two communes): 58.6% of the wife, 29.7% of the husbands, 92% of the children, and 67.6% of old people. In Yen Binh commune where farmers had 15 to 40 rabbits, interviews indicated that 100% of wifes, 31.7% of husbands, 92.8% of children, and 70.5% of old people had some responsibility in rabbit production. Rabbit time management included feeding, checking health, controlling mating etc and about 2-3 hours was spent each day for 20-30 rabbits.

In summary, results of the field research in the two communes indicated that rabbit green feed is available and easily purchased by farmers for the number of rabbits they have, and that rabbits mostly required green feed (as farmers estimated to 0.3-0.5 kg/rabbit/day). That is similar to the research results in the research station reported by Binh (2003) and Luyen (2004 ). Most of the rabbit breeds can be fed with same feed source as pigs and cattle and this is available in the households, which is an advantage for farmers in animals feed collection. However, rabbit wild green feed or even residue crop/vegetable products are easier to get and more diverse to collect than feed for pigs or cattle. When feed resources for rabbit production in the two communes was compared, it showed that Yen Binh had advantages over Ninh Phuc, because Yen Binh is located ,in a hill area with more wild green feed, larger land areas and more feed from crop products. However, there are farmers who have not regarded rabbit feed in terms of quality and due to that it seems that the feed is unbalanced in terms of nutrition. Observations in the two communes showed that most of the farmers have not mixed common green feeds such as sweet potato vine, water spinach etc with rich nutrient leaves such as soybean, or groundnuts in the rabbit rations. They seem to just consider quantity in the feed for rabbits. Regarding rabbit management, mostly wives, old people, and children after school time seem to be responsible.

6.3.1.4. Farmer skills for rabbit production

Skill and technical knowledge is necessary for rabbit production, especially for rabbit small-scale enterprises that have limited access to technology information (Binh 2003). Farmers in Ninh Phuc commune who had gained skills on their own and shared with other farmers, however, they had also suffered from failures, especially at starting up time. Discussions with the head of GA, showed that the main causes of failures included the farmer’s difficulty in changing their habits of rabbit rearing such as management, limited feed or unbalanced quantity and/or quality, contributing to low rabbit productivity. The second main reason was the farmer’s lack of skill in disease control and treatment, resulting in high rabbit mortality rate, and reduced number of households working with rabbit production (from 56 households down to 48 households from 2001 to 2002). Discussions also indicated that up to present, farmers have improved their knowledge by themselves. For example, they can identify and treat some common diseases such as scabies, diarrhea etc, and have improved on rabbit management such as mating transplants or pregnancy test. However, a comparison of farmer’s capacity skills between the two communes showed that farmers in Ninh Phuc have gained much more than farmers in Yen Binh, possibly explained extension support at the starting up time. An additional illustration is shown by the figures of disease treatment and survived proportion at 3 months of age of 72% in Ninh Phuc and of 62.4% in Yen Binh (Table 5.4). However, these figures in the two communes were still lower than the results achieved at the research station (over 85% of survived rate reported by Luyen (2004 ).

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6.3.2. External factors

6.3.2.1. Market for rabbit production

In Vietnam, rabbit products, unlike other livestock products, have not been popular for local consumption. The market for rabbit production has just appeared in recent years, is still limited, and seems not commonly to spread. The reasons can be, on the one hand, that rabbit price is higher than that of other animal products. On the other hand, the market for rabbit meat products seems to be concentrated to restaurants, supermarkets and local markets where people with high income can afford it. What’s more, at present, rabbit production in both rabbit breed and meat types were very demanding socially. Of the breed type, it is one of the major animal species that smallholder farmer have used as an alternative when epidemic diseases appeared in the past. As for meat products, consumers have understood the high nutrient value of rabbit meat, resulting in more people eating rabbit meat. However, a deeper look at the issue will show that the first importance is to get a market for each place, at least one point in each commune, and that leads to cooperation among points where rabbit keeper’s lack of marketing skills for rabbit production.

From household discussions in the two communes (Diagram 6.3), it is shown that all farmers had contracts with collectors for selling their products of rabbit production. Besides, a third of the farmers in Ninh Phuc and 45.7% of farmers in Yen Binh sold their rabbit products in the local markets as live rabbits. Sales at other market places depended on different farmer’s capacity of communication with consumers who were from other places to come to buy, or whether farmers were able to carry their products to other places to sell as breeding rabbits or for meat (this was expressed by 47.2% in Ninh Phuc and 19.2% in Yen Binh commune).

Figure. 6.3. Market for rabbit production

Rabbit pro duc tio n s e lling in NinhP huc

100

66.752.8

0

2 0

4 0

6 0

8 0

10 0

12 0

Middleman Local market Other places

Selling places

% R

abbi

t pro

duct

ion

selli

ng

R a bit pro duc t io n s e lling in Ye nB inh

100

55.7

19.2

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Middleman Local market Other places

Selling places

% R

abbi

t pro

duct

ion

selli

ng

Source: Household survey in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

This illustrates that farmers in Ninh Phuc commune had a better linkage systems on selling rabbit products to consumers in other places (like Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Nam Dinh provinces etc).

In summary, this issue is seen as a constraint to rabbit production. In fact, rabbit meat products seem to be unfamiliar to consumers and rabbit meat is just served in restaurants in town centers to

37

which rural people have little access. It is not common in local markets, which greatly affects rabbit product marketing. On the other hand, when most of the rabbit products sold to collectors it may cause a price barrier.

6.3.2.2. Rabbit production in the integrated farming systems model.

Conceptual model of integrated farming systems (Preston 2000)

Framework 5.2: the practice model of rabbit production mixed integrated farming systems, drawn by group discussion in study sites, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

Rabbit production

Crop Earthworm as feed for fishpond

Household Fishpond

Manure

Food/capital invest

As feed

Compost fertilizer

Food/feed

Crop residue/by production/manure

38

According to the conceptual model above, Preston (2000) described and defined a livestock integrated farming systems as a sustainable cycling in livestock husbandry in which the main factors have strong relationship with sub-factors in cycles. Though independent in the components, they are in linkage and interaction with each other.

The rabbit integrated farming system in this context is based on field research and farmers implementation and can be drawn as the practice model in Framework 5.2. In the sites, the researcher focused on how farmers used rabbit excreta as a source for earthworms, and examined farmer’s perception of the model above. Interviews showed that farmers in the two communes had different ways of implementation in this context as seen in Diagram 5.6 and 5.7.

Figure: 6.4. Rabbit production mixed integrated farming systems in households

Excreta using in NinhPhuc

68

24

8

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Farm use Fishpond Earthworm

Purposes using

% e

xcre

ta u

sing

Excreta using in YenBinh

63

34

30

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Farm use Fishpond Earthworm

Purposes using

% e

xcre

ta u

sing

Source: Household survey in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

The diagram above indicates that, in Ninh Phuc commune, 24% of the farmers used rabbit excreta for feeding fish in their fishponds; 68% of the farmers usually composted this material to use for fertilizing home gardens and to take directly to the field; and 8 % of farmers used fresh manure for earthworm rearing, while the products from earth worm harvest were used as fish and poultry feed supplement. In Yen Binh commune, farmers also used fresh manure as composted and 63% of total households took it directly to the field. The use for fishponds was higher than in Ninh Phuc at 34 % compared with 24%; and for earthworms at 3%. Besides, discussions about the use of leguminous species intercropped with other trees as feed supplement for rabbits, showed that 32-33% of the farmers in the two communes knew about Tricanthera and Flemingia macrophylla trees (leguminous tree types) as preferable feed for rabbits, meanwhile other animals do not like this feed. Although the figure is significant, observations showed that it did not seem to be practical, because farmers had not applied these models widely.

In conclusion, although farmers in the two communes had integrated rabbit production into their farming systems, not all farmers had their own perfect method. On the one hand, farmers tried using their experience or used some information they got about new types as earthworm, or leguminous trees intercropped with tree crops even though this had not been common in the

39

region before. On the other hand, farmers had limited access to information in this context for application, especially farmers in Yen Binh commune.

6.3.2.3. Technology sources for rabbit production

Sources of technology

The data and information collected from households interviewed in the two communes showed that rabbit farmers can get technology information from five sources comprising their own experiences, public mass media, workshops held by central and local organizations, Ninh Binh rabbit station (NRS), and local extension departments.

Figure: 6.5. Rabbit farmer access to technology capacity

Technology sources in NinhPhuc

86.8

31.6

15.8 18.4

7.9

0

20

40

60

80

100

Ownexperiences

Public mediamass

Workshop NRS ExtensionDep.Sources of farmer access

% o

f far

mer

acc

ess

Tenology sources of YenBinh commune

60.7

17.8

7.1

39.3

0

20

40

60

80

Ownexperiences

Public mediamass

Workshop NRS

Sources of farmer access

% o

f far

mer

acc

ess

Source: Household survey in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

In general, most farmers in the two communes said they learnt through their own experience; or they learnt and remembered from family or neighbors learning together; and gradually gained experience during the rabbit rearing process. The public mass media for rabbit technology is popular in TV, radio and newspapers and tailored for farmers. There are a number of programs such as; “ Ban cua nha nong- Friends of farmers” or “Cung voi nong dan ban cach lam giau- Discussions to be enriched together with farmers” ; or “Nong thon ngay nay- Present rural in Vietnam”. A workshop for rabbit rearing had also been organized under provincial extension department and farmers in Ninh Phuc commune had participated (15.8%). Other workshops were organized by the Vietnam National Goat and Rabbit research Center (VNGRRC) last year and under that the local authority sent some farmers from Yen Binh commune to participate, but the number of participants was lower, seven people or 7% of total farmers. A new rabbit station “Ninh Binh Rabbit Station (NRS)” was established in 2006. This station is close to Yen Binh commune and thus generates more good opportunities for farmers living in the region than for farmers in Ninh Phuc commune and this explains why a low percentage of farmers in Ninh Phuc have attended training.

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A rabbit farmer residing in Yen Binh said:" Sometimes I was searching for rabbit technology information on TV through the “ban cua nha nong- friend of farmers” channel showed twice weekly. There were expertise advising and answering questions on issues concerning rabbit rearing so over time I understood and applied what I learnt”

Supporting spread of knowledge

In general, in the two communes, farmers have received support from technical dissemination for rabbit rearing. According to the Vice Director of the local extension department, support for technology has been implemented since 2001 for leaders of communes throughout the province as follows: in each commune 4-6 participants were chosen to take part in the training courses of 1-2 days at the local extension department office.

The head of the gardening association in Ninh Phuc commune was considered the pioneer at that time as this commune had chosen and sent six members from the executive board of the union to take part in the lectures in NGRRC on rabbit management, feeding, health and rabbits in the farming systems model. The duty of these members was to teach other farmers in the communes what they had learned from workshops, and they themselves also set up demonstrations in their households. This way, other farmers could come to learn and exchange their experiences concerning rabbit technology including management, feeding and breeding. Beside that, this association also conducted seminars in the commune and participants were both those who were rabbit farmers and farmers who wanted to start rearing rabbits. Up to present time, they have organized five seminars. However, some of the farmers still have limited technical know-how resulting in low rabbit production. Also, according to the information from the head of GA, it seems that in general, rabbit husbandry activities had provided good chances for spreading necessary knowledge amongst rabbit farmers through promoting communication among them.

In Yen Binh, as previously mentioned, farmers’ practices were based on their own experience. The Head of the Farmer Association indicated that in fact, the commune authorities did not seem to regard livestock husbandry in general and rabbit specifically as priority as there was a lack of extension activity, and the livestock and veterinary department lacked professional knowledge as it was established just in 2005. There was also limited finance for key farmers to take part in training courses. Those were the reasons for low rabbit development in the past time. Thus, in 2005-2006, under commune’s funds only three key members from the Veteran Association in 2005 and two key members of Farmer Associations in 2006 were sent to NGRRC to learn rabbit technology. Like in Ninh Phuc commune, those key farmers set up demonstrations in their households and shared experience with other farmers in the commune. Another good example of spreading their knowledge in this commune that NRS established in 2006 was to locate these in a place within the commune that was more comfortable for farmers to learn the technology.

In Yen Binh, as previously mentioned, farmers’ praxis was based on their experiences. Asking why, a discussion with the head of farmer association revealed that commune authorities did not seem to regard livestock husbandry in general and rabbits specifically as high priority. There was a lack of extension activity, livestock and veterinary department was not set up, they lacked of expert professional knowledge and just established it in 2005.Additionally there had been limited finance for key farmers to take part in training courses and all those reasons resulted in low rabbit development in the past. Thus until 2005-2006, under commune’s funds only three key members from the Veteran Association (2005) and two key members of Farmer Associations (2006) were sent to NGRRC to learn about rabbit technology (source: local authority). Like in Ninh Phuc commune, those key farmers set up demonstrations in their households and shared experiences

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with other farmers in the commune. Another good example of spreading their knowledge in this commune was that NRS was established in 2006, and was located in a place close to the commune and that was more convenient for farmers going to learn the technology.

Discussions with key informants in two communes revealed that over 70% of rabbit keepers in Ninh Phuc and about 60% of rabbit keepers in total in Yen Binh commune gained on issues relevant to rabbit rearing from sharing information amongst farmers. This included: rabbit feeding basics including understanding of green feed hygiene, mixed balance green feed containing high water content with feed carrying low water proportion to avoid diarrhea diseases, or mixed green feed containing high nutrition level with low nutrient feed for balancing feed nutrition. Farmers in Ninh Phuc have also known how to process feed into dried forms for storage in dry season. On veterinary aspect, preparation of individual medicine boxes in the house for treating common diseases such as diarrhea, and also understanding disease protection through vaccination. For management they have learnt breeding control and understood blood homogeneity issues that fixed cage and change over buck.

Communication

The Venn diagram exercise showed that there was good linkage between farmers with organizations in the two communes and others through local associations on the rabbit rearing process. In this context, the local association worked as a bridge linking rabbit farmers with other organizations.

In Ninh Phuc commune, as mentioned previously, it seems that GA is the closest to farmers since they established rabbit demonstrations. According to the head of GA, GA plays a role of a link directly to local authorities or rabbit institutions. Extension in the province, which supports technology, new rabbit breeds, and advice on building up rabbit demonstrations in the commune, comes second. The next is the provincial role of providing supporting funds for rabbit activities under extension, and also for propaganda programs for rabbit production. Veterinary service sometimes is considered as a consultant on rabbit disease treatment. In addition, a new NRS was established and operated in 2006 in the place where farmers could easily visit and learn to apply the model method to rabbit production.

In Yen Binh commune, following the Venn diagram exercise for testing communications in terms of rabbit rearing shows that this has just been established during a few recent years. The mass organizations who are closest to farmers are the two local associations of farmers and veterans. The Farmer Association, which just started operating in 2005, plays a role as a bridge linking local authority with farmers from rabbit institutions. For the veteran association, operational later in 2006, the objective of establishment is to create operation for members in this association. In recent years, according to the Head of the Farmer Association, the local authority has paid attention to rabbit production for example by providing supporting funds to send the key members to take parts in for learning technology in 2005 and 2006. The NRS is built in a close location and although it has just been in operation since 2006 there has been good communication between farmers and technicians.

6.4. Rabbit production contributes to household economy

As in the previous section, farmers do not or use very little feed from outside sources for their animals, except for feed supplement (like commercial feed) for pigs, beef cattle in the fattening period. Feed based on residues from crop products and wild green feed resources are available in rural households for those animals.

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In this research, the author does not convert labor value into monetary that would assess how farmers used sub labor for rabbit production, i.e. contribution of old people and children who may not participate in main household work.

6.4.1. Rabbit production employment creation

In this context, the researcher looked at how farmers used labor resources for rabbit production, especially sub labor source (old people and children). Household interviews showed that old people participated at 67-70% in the total rabbit management while over 50% of them have not participated in other household activities. Also, 92-93% of children participated in rabbit management of which over 50% did not participate in household work. The interviews indicated that rabbit management of those people was done under support of other family members who guided regarding technology (as breeding control, disease detection etc), or preparation of green feed available. In practice, most of main farm work such as management of cattle, care of pigs care or work in the fields was the responsibility of the wife or husband. Thus, in practice, rabbit operations did not seem to require the use of strong labor for the sector. Rather, old people managed the rabbits; green feed was prepared by the wife who just did cleaning and feeding of rabbits three times per day. In that respect, rabbit husbandry can be seen as employment for old people or children who did not do other jobs but rabbit production.

As a woman in Ninh Phuc commune said "rabbit care and management is just done by my parents and children. It can take one hour in the morning, half hour at noon and one hour in the evening. Each time they use half an hour for cleaning and half for feeding. For example yesterday I prepared the feed when harvesting vegetables for the market, so residue from the vegetables was used for rabbits the next day"

A child in Yen Binh said "I finish school in the morning and in the afternoon I do my homework until around 3 pm, then I go to cut green feed for the rabbits. When I come back home, I spend half an hour for cleaning and rabbit feeding. It is very easy for me"

Another farmer in Yen Binh said:" It has given my child and parents some work, and it also brings more income for us, because when a child finishes school, instead of doing other insignificant things he collects rabbit feed. Since we started rearing rabbit, the children seem to be more laborious".

6.4.2. Rabbit production contributes to household income

In the study sites, of the medium group, in Ninh Phuc a farmer who kept on average at 15 does can sell about 100 rabbits totally for breeding and meat types per year and the farmer can get around 4.54 million VND total per year, it occupies 28.2% of total household income per year. In Yen Binh commune, a farmer who kept on average at eight does can sell around 70 rabbits per year so that the farmer can get 2.8 million VND total per household per year, and it occupies at 25.2% in total household income (Table 6.7).

In the better-off group, normally a farmer in Ninh Phuc commune kept an average of 20 and sold around 150 rabbits in total for breed and meat types per year; farmers can get about 8.5 million VND income per household per year that occupies 36.6 % of the total household income per year. In Yen Binh commune, a farmer who kept on average about 15 does and sold around 100 rabbits totally per year in both types of products. They can get profits of about 4.5 million VND per household per year, accounting for 28.2% in a total household income (Table 6.7).

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Table 6.7. Rabbit products contributes to household income

Commune

Income (million

VND/year) Total of rabbits selling (head)

% Unsuccessful

Mean 8.54 154 7.1N 19 19 3

Better off in Ninh Phuc SE 0.68 10.3 0.23

Mean 4.5 113 8.2N 14 14 3

Better off in Yen Binh SE 0.25 4.61 0.32

Mean 4.54 98 17.7N 26 26 8

Medium in Ninh Phuc SE 0.15 2.76 0.34

Mean 2.8 72 25.7N 21 21 9

Medium in Yen Binh SE 0.22 3.94 0.2

Source: Household survey in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh communes, Nguyen Ky Son 2007

6.5. Constraints of rabbit production development

Field research has identified three are main factors that constrain the effectiveness of rabbit production such as:

6.5.1. Rabbit farmer “backwards” habits

The term “backwards habit” is quite broad. But in this context it refers to the question concerning issues of management, housing, feed situation etc., relevant to rabbit rearing, that farmers know but they have not changed yet. Explanation for this, from farmer’s perception, is that the rabbit is a small animal, reproduces rapidly, quick rotation, and is easy to rear; thus sometimes they do not think it profitable to invest more in better housing, feed or breeding quality, or housing sanitation.

Unsuccessful rabbit production in this context can be said to result from rabbits’ low reproductivity, high rabbit’s mortality rate, leading to low income for rabbit keepers. Household interviews and analysis of the results for this issue looked up the table 6.7 indicated that; effected of the rabbit farmer backward is one of reasons unsuccessful on the rabbit production: of the 7.1 to 17.7% and 8.2 to 25.7% of total households that were unsuccessful in Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh commune reported problems on this issue. A combination with observations showed that the rabbit cages were not in good condition and that animals were confined so farmers could not control management, green feed was dirty, farmers had not changed to improved management as other farmers advised; the result was low rabbit production. One farmer in Yen Binh commune for example, said: "I have 18 rabbits totally (in which 5 does and one buck), most of the care is done by children, without any technical training”. Looking at his rabbit house system, it had not been repaired; the cage compartments connected to each other and rabbits become competitive when feeding.

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6.5.2. Market and credit aspects of rabbit production

In discussions with three collectors in Ninh Phuc and two collectors in Yen Binh commune, it was reported that in recent years, rabbit products are in high demand. However, in general the rabbit production market is in a fluctuation because rabbit meat seems to be new meat product for consumers, especially for most rural people. The market is concentrated to the cities, mostly in places such as restaurants and supermarkets along with a high price compared to other livestock products, and is not common for people with low incomes. Also collectors bought rabbit products from farmers under meat and breed selection with different prices (e.g.; breeding rabbit had the price at 50 thousand VND per kg, and meat at 30 thousand VND/ kg live rabbit in 2006) and then they sell to restaurants or other market places. According to collectors, rabbit products sell intensively in the three months at the end of a year because during that time the demand is high because of weddings, traditional festivals, lunar New Year holidays etc... In practice, rabbit product markets are not formal because those markets have not been organized and there are no advertisement programs for the products or any processing units. This causes constraints for the development of rabbit production.

Regarding aspects of access to credit for rabbit production this study just tried to understand the sources of credit and procedures farmers have to follow for credit access. It showed that there is no facilitation from the local authority and it is a complicated procedure in general, specifically in Yen Binh commune. According to the head of the farmer association, although they have a credit fund from the Agriculture or Policy Bank under Farmer associations in commune, which facilitates in a collateral and social collateral style for farmers to borrow, there are still constraints by those facilitators with regards to rabbit production. Discussions showed that the credit procedure concerning rabbit production that is submitted to the local authority is very difficult in terms of certification. The main reason for this was because, up to now, there had been no credit program related to rabbit production and they also thought there may be high risk on repayment of loans. Farmers normally get credit for other reasons, such as investing in rice fields, school fees, etc but no farmer had invested in rabbit production yet.

6.6. The rabbit production opportunities

In Vietnam, in recent years, rabbit meat products have increased rapidly. By comparison, between 2000-2005, the rabbit meat price increased most in the livestock production system, at 8% (DAH 2005). As mentioned in the previous sections, inputs to investment in rabbit production are not as high as for other animals and are appropriate for smallholders. Furthermore, field research found that rabbits have not had problems with epidemic diseases such as bird flu, foot and mouth diseases as other animals have. Therefore, rabbit production could contribute to vulnerability reduction.

At present, the Vietnamese Government has policies for livestock production development that mentions regulations on breeding programs for development of breeding selecting and creating activities towards 2010 for animal rearing and production trading. Rabbit production is included.

Additionally, farmers in Yen Binh and Ninh Phuc communes have gained a rabbit-breeding program through NGRRC in the end of 2006. A purpose of this program is to upgrade the local rabbit breed that the farmers have been keeping. Through this, farmers can borrow buck rabbits of a New Zealand breed to cross the local rabbit breed into hybrid, or if the farmers have a rabbit hybrid available, they can borrow a buck for changeover in order to avoid blood homogenizes.

To provide more opportunities for rabbit production, a new rabbit station was established in Ninh Binh province. The goal of this station is to provide rabbit material for the Nippon-Japan

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company of around one million rabbits per year. A Vietnam-Japan joint venture contract was signed on 10th of September 2007, and Ninh Binh people committee’s approved and issued an investment certificate on 10th October 2007 for development of the rabbit in Ninh Binh and also in other regions (source: Dinh Van Binh, Chairman for the joint venture for Vietnam side, 2007). Also the Minutes of agreement between NGRRC and Nippon Zoki Japan on 28th of November 2007 (Binh 2007) indicated, that this station will be in place early in 2008 as there is need for quite large processing units for such rabbit volumes. It will require quite a lot of farmers to supply rabbits, not only in Ninh Binh but also more farmers in other regions to keep rabbits, to meet needs from such rabbit market development.

6.7. Rabbit production challenges

6.7.1. Feed sources

According to Binh (2003), rabbits in small-scale production units should be less than 50 rabbit does per rural household, considering especially feed resources.

Discussions and household interviews in Ninh Phuc commune indicated that in fact, rabbit green feed mostly consisted of residue from crop/vegetable production and wild green feeds. However, at present the rabbit production is still done on a small scale, with the small numbers that farmers have at present, around 6-7.3 sao♣ of total land per household in both groups, and on average 15-20 does (equal 30-50 rabbits permanently), that is enough of feed for rabbits and other animals and not competitive with agriculture land. By a SWOT analysis exercise, the green feed source will become insufficient when rabbit production is expanded, if the farmers have not planned for solutions. According to farmer calculations, if they increase by more than 20 rabbit does that will require expansion of one more sao of land, while pig keeping would not vary (3-4 pigs for permanent).

6.7.2. Diseases protection, breeding management and marketing Besides the green feed source challenge mentioned above, improvement of farmer skills, knowledge on rabbit management, feed nutrient quality and disease control are also important challenges for farmers when rabbit production is in expansion. As mentioned in previous chapters, and from the SWOT exercise in the two communes, most farmers identified that these issues contributed to less optimal production.

Going back to Table 6.2 one can see farmer’s constraints on these issues: a high 44.9% in Ninh Phuc and 61.5% of the farmers lacked technology. Those figures must take into account that rabbit production at present is on a small scale with small numbers of rabbits that farmers can control for diseases; it must be contrasted to a larger scale production where farmers will be meeting challenges.

Regarding the market for rabbit production, it is in fluctuation, and this seems suitable for farmers keeping animals for a long time and having good communication regarding rabbit selling. The SWOT exercise in the two communes indicated that farmers sold a low number of rabbits in local markets in Yen Binh (55% of total farmers) and Ninh Phuc (34.3% of total farmers). All farmers agreed that at present, with the number of rabbits they have, it is sometimes difficult to sell rabbit products both to collectors and in local markets. If farmers expand the livestock with a larger number of rabbits while markets are unsuitable, this will be a challenge for rabbit production.

♣ 1 sao = 360 m2

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In summary, the issues above are challenging for rabbit keepers in the two communes. Meeting increased need for feed resources, specifically in Ninh Phuc commune will require an appropriate solution. Additionally, disease controls and market issues are also big challenges for rabbit keepers in the two communes when rabbit rearing is in expansion if they have not improved their knowledge, or solved issues in advance.

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CHAPTER VII: CONCLUSION

This thesis attempts to explore the potential/potential constraints of rabbit production and how it contributes to smallholder economy in the two communes (Ninh Phuc and Yen Binh), Nho Quan District, Ninh Binh province in Northern Vietnam. In the course of implementing the study, the researcher focused on both main factors (internal and external) that influence the rabbit rearing process, and also on understanding current opportunities and challenges of rabbit production. The study included reviewing relevant literature and data, and gathering primary information from group discussions, household interviews, and other methods.

Field research results indicated that rabbit production in many aspects has been suitable for smallholder farmers in the two communes. Many good conditions available in rural smallholder farms, such as sub labor sources used for rabbit husbandry (children 93% and old people 70%), a diversity of feed resources, simplicity of rabbit housing materials and construction, bring advantages to smallholder farmers in terms of employment creation and low rabbit production costs. Rabbit production could bring significant contribution to smallholder farmer economy, as besides better use of sub labor sources, rabbit production capacity is higher than that of other animals (35 to 55 kg live meat per rabbit doe per year). This can contribute 28% to 36% in total to a smallholder’s income. The smallholder farmers gained such good results because they have good communication amongst communes and because they utilized well their own personal experiences concerning rabbit rearing. In addition, unlike other animals, rabbit production has not had to experience any epidemic diseases, which is good for smallholder farmers as it contributes to lower vulnerability.

Regarding support for rabbit production for smallholder farmer, there are some positive actions such as Ninh Binh province’s policies towards NGRRC cooperation in terms of upgrading rabbit breeds. This will also be helpful for farmers who could not access technology or could not access high rabbit breed quality.

However, there were also constraints of rabbit production. The first problem is that most farmers rear rabbits on basis of their experience and with little access to new technology (45% to 61% of total farmers) and this leads to low rabbit reproductivity. Current production just equal one-third to one half of rabbit production yields from research on station. These figures indicated that some of the smallholder farmers have still not adopted available technology for rabbit production. So, farmers in the two communes need to be supported with technology. However, it is believed that they will change over time this issue by improving their knowledge/skill on the rabbit management. The second concern is the rabbit product market issue; smallholder farmers still cope with market fluctuation, especially in Yen Binh where there seems to be a more serious lack of market organization of the rabbit products than in Ninh Phuc. Additionally, rabbit products are still dependent of the low social demand in general. Thus, not only Ninh Phuc, but for all there is a need to set up a rabbit market organization that will make it possible for smallholder farmers to engage in sustainable rabbit production.

Besides these, sufficient rabbit feed sources will be a challenge to smallholder farmer. This is specifically true for Ninh Phuc commune where farmers have smaller land areas than in Yen Binh. They need to find an appropriate solution which allows for rabbit expansion. Regarding feed quality, although feed resource is abundant in the two communes in general, farmers still neglected using these in terms of feed nutrients in diet. Thus farmers need to improve their

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knowledge on mixed balance feed in terms of quality and quantity. If this is done successfully, it will affect positively rabbit growth, rapid rotation and, of course, lead to smallholder farmers generating a higher income.

Different stakeholders in the local communities also need to be more active in terms of support to rabbit production, especially in Yen Binh where farmers were rearing rabbits by themselves at the beginning without any support.

Regarding opportunities for rabbit production, the price has tended to increase at the highest rate in livestock production systems in all areas in recent years. It is evident that small farmers had looked at this and it had helped to improve their perceptions of rabbit rearing and on deciding on alternatives to raise household incomes. There are policies among State’s Animal programs in general that support Ninh Binh People’s Committee’s efforts in recent years to push rabbit development. Another meaningful opportunity is Ninh Binh rabbit station which was established in the end of 2006. Its’ goal to supply high rabbit quality breeds to farmers and also by their rabbit product supply for commercial processing and exported to Japan, encourages rabbit keepers to expand and sell their rabbit products.

This research was just conducted in two communes as representatives in the Red River Delta region in Northern Vietnam. There may not be enough evidence and therefore more case studies in different groups of rural people and in different agro-ecology situations must be done.

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DAH (2006). "DAH( department of animal husbadry) Báo cáo tổng kết chăn nuôi giai đoạn 2001-2005 và định hướng phát triển chăn nuôi thời kỳ 2005-2015." Ellis, F. (2000). Rural livelihoods and diverty in developing countries. FAO (1985). "Expert consultation on farming system and development. FAO.RAPA. Bangkok." FAO (1997). The rabbit husbandy, health and production. FAO (1999). "Breeding rabbits for food and income." FAO (1999). Breeding rabbits for food and income. . GaspariD (1984). "Economic and organization problems which limit rabbit production in Mozambique. Page in the III World Rabbit Congress, Rome, April 4-8, pp220-226.WRSA." Golman, L. a. (1988). "Economic feasibility of rabbit farming under intensive and subsitence management systems of production " Journal of Applied Rabbit Research 10:20-25. Hang, N. T. T. (2003 ). "Better on used to mixed tea of dregs with rice brand which reducing commercial feed cost in rural households for rabbits." An annually scientific meeting, National institute of animal husbandry. Holmes, Sci, et al. (1984). "Proximate composition and sensory characteristics of meat from rabbits fed three levels of alfalfa meal." IFAD (2001). "Rural poverty report 2001. http://www.ifad.org/poverty." IFAD). ( 2001). ""rural poverty report"." IFPRI. (1999 ). "Livestock to 2020, The next food revolution, IFPRI, FAO and ILRI, May 1999. http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd16/1/kris161.htm." Retrieved 9 January, 2008. Kristensen, E., C. E. S. Larsen, et al. (2002). "Livestock production-twenty first century's food revolution( discussion paper on the donor community's role in securing a poverty oriented commercialization of livestock production in the developing world. http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd16/1/cont161.htm." Llewellyn, R. S. (2007). "Information quality and effectiveness for more rapid adoption decisions by farmers." Lukefahr (1998). "Sustainable and alternative systems of rabbit production." Lukefahr, H.l.Nkwocha, et al. (2000). "Present status of the Heifer Project International- Cameroon rabbit program: Back to the future Gudahld " World Rabbit Sci. 8(2): 75-83.

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Lukefahr, S. D., P. R. Cheeke, et al. (2004). "Limitations of intensive meat rabbit production in North America: a review. ." Canadian Journal of Animal Science 84(3): 349-360. Luyen, L. T. (2004 ). Performance of rabbit hybrid (Newzealand, Caifornia and local rabbit breeds) on farm in Vietnam. An annually scientific meeting, Vietnam National institute of animal husbandry. Maff (1971). "Commercial rabbit production. Bulletin 50.London: HMSO." McCroske, R. (2001). "Integration of rabbit production into populated areas, especially in hot climates." previously published in Pan-American Rabbit Science Newsletter.http://pan-am.uniserve.com Volume 6(1), 18-20). Muir, J. P. and E. S. Massaete (1991). "Growth response of rabbits to tropical forages and wheat bran." Journal Applied Rabbit Research 14: 235-235. Owen, J. E. (1981). "Rabbit meat for developing countries." World Animal Review 39: 2-11. Preston, T. R. (2000). "Livestock production from local resources in an integrated farming system: A sustainable alternative for the benefit of small scale farmers and the environment. ." Proc. Workshop on Sustainable Livestock Production on Local Feed. Resources, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Retrieved 21 February, 2008, from http://www.utafoundation.org/utacambod/sarec/preston.htm. Preston, T. R. and Murgueitio (1994). Strategy for sustainable livestock production in the tropics. CONDRIT Ltda: Cali, Colombia. Volume 8, Number 2, July 1996. RayMobley. "Management and Health Issues of Rabbits. http://www.famu.edu/herds/UserFiles/File/Biosecurity_at_the_Farm_Level.pdf." Suc, N. Q., L. T. T. Ha, et al. (2000 ). "Manure from rabbits, goats, cattle and buffaloes as substrate for earthworms . http://mekarn.org/sarpro/sucew.htm." from http://mekarn.org/sarpro/sucew.htm. Surrey, B. C. (1997). "Small Scale Rabbit Husbandry Rabbits in cities: A proposal for rabbit as a meat source for the family, or: Five Cages, 2 Does and 1 Buck = meat supply for your family! http://www-am.uniserve.com/mail.htm." Vietmeyer, N. D. (1985). "Potentials of micro livestock in developing countries. J. Appl. Rabbit Res. 8:10."

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Appendices Appendix 1. Questionnaire Code:..................................................................................................................... Date of survey........................................................................................................ Commune:............................................................................................................. Name of interviewer:............................................................................................. Name of interviewee:............................................................................................ Group:.................................................................................................................... General information

Household status

Total of people in household

- Male (people): - Main labor (people)

- Sub labor (people):

- Occupation: Land using: - Total land (sao♣)

- Rice land (sao)

- Crop land (sao)

- Resident land (sao)

- Total income (Estimated per year, million VND)

- Total expenditure (estimate per year, million VND)

Livestock husbandry

Item Cattle Pigs Rabbit Labor using:

♣ 1 sao= 360 m2

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Main labor - Husband: - Wife:

..................... ......................

.................... .......................

................... ..................

Sub labor - (Old people and children)

.....................

....................

...................

Reproductively ability: - Kid per litter (head) ................... ...................... ................. - Litter per year: ................... .................... .................. - % Survive to selling (head) - Average of products sold (head)

................. ....................

.................... ....................

................... ...............

Farmer’s opinion - Low price - High price

...................... .........................

...................... ......................

................... ...................

Assessment of the main problem to crop cultivation, rabbit and other animals Item Cattle Pigs Rabbit Crop Price/market - Good: - Medium: - Difficult:

.................. .................. ...................

................. ................. .................

.................. .................. ...................

.................. .................. ...................

Problem of crop activity - Irrigation problem: - Soil quality - Others

.................... .................... ..................

Time and labor using: - Much for use: - Medium: - Not much:

.................. .................. ...................

................. ................. .................

.................. .................. ...................

.................. .................. ...................

Knowledge and skills: - Available: - Lack of technology:

.................. ..................

................. .................

.................. ..................

.................. ..................

Feed resources - Easily purchased at commune: .................. ................

. .................. .................

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- Medium purchased: .................. .................

.................. .................

- Difficult purchased: - Buy from outside (what’s feed type) What kind of feed collecting - Involvement of whole animals/ grazing - Separate each other of animals Where of feed sources - Crop residue - Natural feed - Others - How rabbit competitive with others - Crop - Other animals

..................

.................. ............... ................ .................. ................... ................. ................ ..............

................

.

................ ................. ............... ................. ................. ............... ............... ...............

..................

..................... ..................... ................... ............... ................. .................. ................... ...................

.................

................... .................. ................. ................. ............... ................. .................. ...................

Animal housing (materials, construction): - Difficult search material /construction: - Or easily/available at commune:

.................. ..................

.............. ...............

.................. .....................

.................... .................

Whose responsibility

- Wife: .................. ................ ................ ................... - Husband: .................. ................ ................ ................... - Children: .................. ................ ................ ................... - Old people: .................. ................ ................ ................... Income from crop and livestock production Item Cattle Pigs Rabbit Crop Kind of animal keeping - Breeding (head) - Meat (head)

.................. ..................

................. .................

.................. ..................

.................. ..................

Where for selling: - Collectors - Local market - Others - Number of heads selling Input investment - Commercial feed: - Vaccination - Medicine

................. .................... .................... .................. ..................... ..................

............... ................. ................. .................

................... ................... .................... .................... ................... ............... .................

.................... ....................... ...................... ..................... ................... ...................

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- Others ................. .................

................

...............

................

.

...............

..................... ................... ..................

Total income per year (estimated, million VND)

..................

................

.

..................

..................

Sources for get rabbit breeding, technology and integrate farming systems aspect

Checklist to the key informants and rabbit collectors for interview

• How does rabbit situation in Ninh Binh province in general? What kind of support does it receive?

• How is the agriculture activity in the Nho Quan district?

• How is the planning for rabbit husbandry at moment and how will it be in future? How about the rabbit opportunity in future? What role do the experts play in rabbit husbandry?

• Are there any supports from local authorities for rabbit husbandry in the communes? What kind of support is that?

• What role do the local associations play in rabbit husbandry? • How is the rabbit keeper relationship among communes? • How is rabbit products market situation at moment/kind of rabbit products that farmer

sell? • What do the children do after school time? How many hours for rabbit management?

What opinions are on rabbit management compared with other household’s activities?

Item Time for rabbit developed (which year) What kind of rabbit breed gets - Local (head) - Hybrid (head)

.................. ...................... ....................

Where’s get technology/support - Farmer’s sharing - Expertise department - Others (take not in specifically) How’s rabbit husbandry integrated farming system aspect - Excreta using for field - For fishpond - Others (earthworm/rich nutrient trees as leguminous etc) - Perception of farming system

................... ................... .................... ........................ ........................ .......................... .......................... .........................

Total income per year (estimated, million VND) ..................

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Appendix 2. Maps and Venn diagram of two communes Transect map of Yen Binh commune

Source: Drew by author and village leaders in commune, 2007 Venn diagram of Yen Binh commune

57

Source: Drew by author and village leaders in commune, 2007 Map of Ninh Phuc commune

58

59

Source: Drew by author and village leaders in commune, 2007 Venn diagram of Ninh Phuc commune

Source: Drew by author and village leaders in commune, 2007 Seasonal calendar of Ninh Phuc commune Source: Drew by author and village leaders in commune, 2007 Seasonal calendar of Yen Binh commune Source: Drew by author and village leaders in commune, 2007