Improvement of Livestock Production in Crop-Animal Systems in ...

village production systems; to study and validate the field effectiveness of the Laotian swine fever vaccine,to study disease resistance in local and exotic breeds; and to transfer appropriate technology from theAustralian Animal Health Laboratory to the Lao PDR.Socio-economic aspectsSeveral socio-economic surveys have been undertaken by various agencies in different parts of the country.In the uplands, where shifting cultivation is practised, animals are important for income generation and areperceived as capital assets. The contribution of animals to total farm income is considerable, and theimportance of manure for crop cultivation is recognised. However, the application of manure is variable, andis dependent on the number of animals owned, alternatives for use, and the area of the cultivated crop.According to Fujisaka (1990), the order of priority for manure application is rice seedbeds, upland cash cropsand small fields of rice. Again, in order of importance, manure is distributed evenly to small plots, to alternateplots each year, to less productive parts of large fields, and to middle terraces where drought and flood risksare lowest.Detailed surveys (DLVS 1993) in rainfed areas in six provinces, 18 villages and six districts involving305 households indicated that farmers on the plateaux kept 9.9 head of cattle per household compared to 4.4and 7.2 head per household in the lowland and upland areas. The contribution of cattle to total farm incomein the lowlands, plateaux and uplands was 56, 46 and 56%, respectively. The survey also identifiedsocio-economic and technical constraints to production.Constraints to productionThere are a number constraints to animal production. Firstly, the most important factor is animal diseases.At the small-farm level, mortality rates are in excess of 60%, particularly for non-ruminants. This is due topoor veterinary inputs and services. Secondly, animal performance is limited by nutritional factors whichvary depending on species. Generally, for ruminants, availability of feed is not a major problem, but qualityin the dry season and efficiency of use are constraints. For non-ruminants, protein feeds are in limited supplyand increasing their availability is a major challenge. For both groups of animals, supplementation strategiesare needed. Thirdly, there is a shortage of trained personnel to support the generation and transfer oftechnology, and a greater need for farmers to participate in research planning. As in Cambodia and Vietnam,training as a component of institution building will be essential. The Lao-IRRI Project is involvedsignificantly in the training process for rice. Finally, smallholders on isolated farms have poorcommunications and little or no access to credit facilities to support new developments.A feature of the work with improved forages has been the absence of the animal from the studies andan emphasis on plant selection rather than utilisation. In addition to the fallow period in upland rice, otheropportunities are available in rice-based systems for the planting of improved forages, e.g. the establishmentof living fences of multipurpose trees (farmers use bamboo fencing around rainfed lowland rice fields) andthe sowing of improved species on bunds and terraces in rainfed lowland rice production. Emphasis on forageevaluation has been on perennial species, but opportunities exist for the inter-cropping or relay-cropping ofannual species.MalaysiaEnvironment and cropping systemsMalaysia has a land area of 336,700 km 2 . Although rice is a major crop, priority systems throughoutPeninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak are based on rubber, oil palm and coconut. There are over 2.2 millionha of oil palm, 1.8 million ha of rubber (85% on Peninsular Malaysia) and approximately 1.0 million ha ofcoconut, together covering almost 60% of the total agricultural land in Malaysia. In addition, there are 163,000ha under fruit orchards, 34% of which are durian. Smallholdings, of which the majority are