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Laos is located in the central part of the Indochinese Peninsula. It is an inland state surrounded by China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar. The land area is about 236,800 km2, of which 80% is occupied by mountains and hilly regions. The agricultural land is limited to around 4% of the total. The population is approximately 6.5 million with an annual growth rate of 2.3% in 2006. There are three main geographical categories of people. The Lao Loum constitutes 68%, the Lao Theung 22% and the Lao Soung 9%. Of the Asian countries, Laos is one of the least densely populated countries with 23.3 people per km2.
Agriculture generates about half the country’s GDP, and rice and livestock products account for about 40% and more than 30% of the total agricultural production, respectively. (STEA, 2003) The forests of Lao PDR have very high biodiversity, containing at least 10,000 species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, fish, and vascular plants. Laos ranks as one of the biologically richest countries in the region. Approximately 1.5% of the total land area has been set-aside as National Biodiversity Conservation Areas (Linkham et al, no date). Approximately 80% of the population is engaged in subsistence farming rather than commercial agriculture. Farming systems in Laos are mainly rice-based at subsistence level where livestock production is a supplementary and complementary component of the systems. The lowland areas are predominantly occupied by Lao Lum who cultivate paddy rice crop as their main occupation. The farm size average about 1.9 ha per household with 2.24 tonnes of rice yields or an average of 344 kg of paddy per person. Aside from crop production, farmers also rear livestock such as goats, cattle, buffaloes, pigs and poultry. They are reared mainly for monetary security and are an integral part of smallholder farming systems. Over 95% of the livestock is owned by smallholders. They are extremely important for the livelihood of smallholders as a sole means of accumulating assets, earning cash income, and providing draft power and manure for crops.
Goats play an important role in food production systems in almost all developing countries. Their great popularity can be explained by their good adaptation to many different climates and the many uses for which they can be kept. Goats are of high importance to people because of the many functions they provide: they serve as a bank account which can be drawn upon when cash money is needed. Furthermore goats provide milk and meat which are high-grade foodstuffs for people. High quality protein to balance diets based on cereal grains. Goats are much more resistant than cattle; they are small animals and cost less per animal. Each farmer usually owns a number of goats. Goat keeping therefore touches on many peoples lives.
Goats in Laos are of the local breed with small body size, similar to the Katjang breed of goats which are common throughout Southeast Asia. They reach a mature weight of about 40 kg and are raised for meat. The first kidding is usually at 12-18 months of age with a single kid. The does generally give birth twice a year, with a high incidence of twins. Goats are found more frequently in the upland areas than in the lowland, with the largest concentrations in Oudomxay, Luangprabang, Huaphanh and Savannakhet provinces. Goats are allowed to graze freely all year in small groups in forests, fallow cropland, natural grassland and communal land. The current production systems found are free-range system, semi-rotational grazing system, semi-free range system and permanent grazing system but most goats are produced in extensive production systems with low capital and other inputs. As goats are selective animals, so farmers limit the number of goats they raise to avoid excessive damage to crops, for which the owner is held responsible. Lack of feed, especially in the dry season, high incidence of diseases and the expansion of crop production are major constraints.
There usually are good local and external markets for goat meat, which is one of the reasons for the increase in the goat population of around 8% per annum over the last 20 years.
The aims of the present research were to:
Study existing goat production systems in lowland Laos
Investigate the potential to intensify goat production by feeding sugar cane as the basal diet.
Compare fresh fresh and sun-dried cassava foliage as the major protein source