Sustainable and profitable crop and livestock systems for south-central coastal Vietnam

Interim report: covering period January to May 2009
A visit to the south central coast was held between February 9-26, 2009:
To visit field sites with potential for research
To attend the project inception meeting
Planning a visit to Australia of Vietnamese partners
To develop workplans for project activities
The following outcomes were developed at the inception meeting:
A project committee was established to review the directions, progress, gaps and overlaps and determine adjustments; comprising:
- Dr Gamini Keerisinghe ACIAR
- Australian Project Coordinator Rob Summers
- Australian Project Leaders, Richard Bell, Allan McKay, Peter Lane, Peter Slavich
- Vietnamese Project Leaders, Hoang Minh Tam, Nguyen Xuan Ba, Nguyen Duy Duc
- VAAS nominee
- Vietnamese partners, Phan Thi Giac Tam (plus IAS nominee, SOFRI nominee, RDCAH nominee,)
Project locations were identified through interaction with the Vietnamese partners after considering soil type, land use and the representative value of the site. The sites are:
- Ninh Thuan, Phuoc Dinh (Phuoc Nam Cashews)
- Phu Yen, An Chan
- Binh Dinh, Cat Hanh, Cat Hiep
An extension to the survey carried out by ACIAR Project SMCN-2003-035 "Improving the utilisation of water and soils resources for tree crop production in coastal areas of Vietnam and NSW" will include further information relevant to this project discussed below.
Workplans have been developed for the first 12 month showing the project activities and tasks, the responsible party, the timing of the activities and dependencies.
The contract was signed between the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia and ACIAR with the commencement date of January 2009 and the final MSA agreements were signed 20 May 2009. At the time of writing the project had not officially started as this finalised agreement has not been received from Vietnam and the initial payments have been delayed.
Although no milestones or outputs have fallen due by 31 May 2009 progress has been made during and since the inception meeting:
Discussions at the inception meeting identified an opportunity to collaborate with NSW DPI as part of the ACIAR project SMCN 2003/035. The Vietnamese partners will be at a training course and present information at the Biochar Conference, Coolangata in May. In the following week Dr Hoang Minh Tam and Mr Nguyen Thai Thinh will travel to W.A. to meet the Australian research staff who were not at the inception meeting, discuss details of the project and visit research sites. The visit was originally scheduled for September 2010 (attendance of Australian staff has delayed the May visit to Vietnam by Australian partners to June).
Initial marketing survey information collected in site visits after the inception meeting detailed in the travel report Feb 2009 has enabled an initial analysis of the information requirements and strategy of collecting the baseline information of Component 1.
An assessment of the survey by SMCN 2003/035 was completed and gaps in the survey for the purposes of this project were identified for a follow-up survey. A draft of the farm survey has been constructed by the Vietnamese partners with input from Australian researchers and will be finalised in June 2009 for implementation.
The detailed work plans were developed for the diagnosis of resources constraints using soil investigation and omission experimentation approach.
A conceptual model of nutrient flow in the local farming systems was developed.
The trial list of forage species was developed for integration into the local cropping systems in discussion with Dr Tam when in Perth.
Dr Tam and Mr Thinh visited Esperance, WA to see study sites on impact of land use on soil carbon.
A database of nutritive characteristics has been commenced including the commencement of collection of available feed information and commencement of literature reviews of cattle performance at HUAF and IAS.
The data needs for the CPCNS is being evaluated for a training course and a farming systems workshop for the specialist and provincial team is being planned. This will be finalised in Hue and Quy Nhon in June 2009.
Collection of available cattle nutrition information has commenced to assess gaps and develop an experimental plan.
Pham Hung Cuong at UQ has completed his literature review and planning is well under way for his experiment.
Future visits are scheduled in June 2009 to discuss the field trial program and survey initiation and in September 2009 for a workshop on monitoring and evaluation for impact assessment.
2009/2010 Progress Summary
Effort has focussed on a farm survey of 180 households from the three study sites to obtain the information on human resources, education level, land resources, cropping systems, socio-economic system, area and yield of major crops/livestock and fertiliser/manure use for crop production. This is critical for the project to better understand local farming systems; identify the characteristics of farming systems that could be used to plan R&D activities at each study site; provide benchmark data on the current crop production and practices for the proposed future project impact evaluation.
Preliminary market mapping and value chains of selected agricultural products, including beef cattle, cassava, cashew nut and mango has been completed. The gathering of data and information on grain legume (peanut) markets and value chain has started. The farm and household economic structure and systems have been identified and will be included in the market chain analysis.
Soil constraints were investigated through: a detailed SCAMP assessment at 16 sites on the major soils in the study area; a nutrient omission experiment on peanuts and tissue analysis of cashews. Deficiencies of a wide range of nutrients were the primary factors limiting crop production. Al toxicity appears to be limiting growth and deficiencies in K and Mo were quite clear. N and P also were limiting production and the impact of Zn and B limiting growth in peanuts needs to be further investigated.
Within the survey program 91 samples were collected to quantify the organic matter resources and potential nutrient supplies being used and traded.
In the low rainfall region (Ninh Thuan) a field experiment evaluated sowing windows and crop legume species for cashew/legume intercropping. Results suggested that early September was the optimum window to intercrop legumes with cashew, and peanut crop yield was consistently higher across the 4 sowing dates than cowpea and mungbean (although cowpea showed some potential for this region). In the high rainfall Binh Dinh province the use of rhizobium strains, Mo and biochar were investigated and preliminary results suggest that use of the commercial strain of inoculant, NC92, could improve peanut dry matter at flowering when coupled with low applications of N fertiliser.
Forage nurseries were established in Jan/Feb 2010 in Binh Dinh as a collaboration of Components 2 and 3. Twelve forage species were included in the nurseries: 4 perennial grasses, 4 perennial legumes, 3 annual legumes and 1 tree legume. The perennial grasses, Mulato II and Signal, the perennial legume, Siratro and the annual legumes, Lab lab and Cavalvade, showed good establishment and vigour. The forage nursery will be a useful resource for producing plant material for use in the 'best-bet' stage of the project where best bet strategies for cattle production are introduced in the extension program.
Detailed benchmarking of cattle management factors has focused on 5 households from two villages in each study commune, a total of 30 households. The monthly or bi-monthly survey includes a combination of biophysical monitoring and questions regarding economics and labour allocations. The benchmarking process involved group discussions and interviews, including farmers, DARD representatives and commune leaders.
More specific cattle nutrition experimental objectives will be developed once the baseline work had been completed, and will be a major activity for the next 12 months. Farmer interviews have helped clarify the issues relevant to farmer profitability and suitable to be addressed by the project team. Although the details are still being developed, cattle nutrition experimentation will focus on the most profitable use of locally available feed components for growing and finishing cattle.
Importantly, good relationships are developing with DARD and commune leaders and extension officers, which will help the project to have impact beyond the life of the project. We have presented the objectives and process of the project to these stakeholders on multiple occasions, and they have expressed their support and a desire to remain involved and informed. In each commune we also have the extension officer involved in the benchmarking process, including liaising with farmers and participating in data collection.
Research is being carried out in Western Australia by the Department of Agriculture and Food, WA, Murdoch University, University of Western Australia and CSIRO. A survey of 100 sites was completed in south-west Australia to understand the role of organic carbon management in nutrient retention. Field experiments were established at Esperance in the South East of Western Australia on sandy soil. Compost is being compared with biochar made from straw or manure to examine their impacts on soil biology and the efficient uptake of nutrients from fertiliser.