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Matching Livestock Systems with Available Resources |
MEKARN Regional Conference 2007 |
Formal and informal interviews and
survey activities were conducted to compile data on what kind of uncultivated
vegetables the farmers used for pigs in 4 upland communes in two mountainous
districts in Thua Thien Hue province. Information was obtained on their seasonal
availability and adoptability, the parts used as pig feed, and variation of
adopted uncultivated vegetables according to wealth ranking between pig raisers.
Their chemical composition was also analysed to see differences during the dry
and wet seasons
There are 14 kinds of uncultivated vegetables used as pig feed resources in upland areas. Three of them were adopted all the year round such as Taro, Banana stem, and natural sweet potato leaves. The poorer farmers were the more intensive users of these feeds compared to medium and better-off pig raisers. Use of the vegetables led to lower production cost and higher net income achieved from pig production.