Breeding and supply chain systems incorporating local pig breeds for small-scale pig producers in Northwest Vietnam

In Vietnam, pig production and pork demand are developing rapidly. Still, 80% of the national pig herd is kept on smallholder farms while policy mainly focuses on intensification of pig production. The aim of this study is to evaluate possibilities to organize pig breeding and marketing channels in remote areas in the uplands of Northern Vietnam. The study compiles three parts: (1) Evaluation of farmers breeding management and breed and trait preferences for pigs; (2) Evaluation of different crossbreeding schemes for leaner meat production; and (3) Design of appropriate organizational settings for pig breeding and marketing. Ban pigs are the second most predominant breed next to the Mong Cai. Ban pigs are valued by farmers for their feed intake spectrum, feed intake capacity, disease tolerance, health/strength, growth rate and carcass quality. For all modelled crossbreeding schemes, genetic gain is low; the Yorkshire x Ban crossbreeding scheme shows the highest overall genetic gain. The traditional production and fattening of Exotic boar x Local dam F(1) crosses does not require particular organizational setups. This system already exists in an improvised way. The advantage of an organized scheme would be the controlled maintenance of the local breed. For the latter, a stratified pig breeding system seems promising, requiring innovative organizational setups. A short food supply chain is proposed. This system builds links between remote and close-to-market villages and populations. Critical organizational aspects like poorly developed infrastructure, poor access to input and output markets and information can be overcome. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.