The Southern Animal Husbandry Sub-Institute has just coordinated with the Provincial Ethnic Committee and the Binh Thuan Agricultural Extension Center to transfer native grass pigs to some households in Dong Giang Commune (Ham Thuan Bac) and Phan Son (Bac Binh). This breeding herd contributes to the restoration of the local pig herd. Thereby, contributing to spreading in the region, increasing the livelihoods of farmers in Binh Thuan in particular and the South Central region in general.
Livelihood diversification
During the handover ceremony of Binh Thuan grass pigs, under the model of "Building a production herd (breeding herd) of Binh Thuan grass pigs in Dong Giang commune", two households, Mr. K' Van Tinh, village 1 and Mr. K' Van Vinh, village 3, could not hide their joy. They were the households to whom the Southern Animal Husbandry Institute came to transfer breeding pigs. These are purebred "nucleus" pigs that the unit had spent a long time in this locality to collect breeding herds and then brought them back to preserve, while continuously selecting to improve productivity and quality. Up to now, the Binh Thuan grass pigs handed over to the people have improved in terms of reproductive capacity and growth by 15 - 20% compared to the original grass pig herd.
Sharing this joy, Mr. K' Van Tinh said: "My family has raised pigs for 5 years. Up to now, thanks to the attention of relevant agencies and units, I have been supported with 11 pigs (10 female pigs and 1 male pig) and will try to expand so that people in the commune can have pigs to restore their herds. During the process of raising and developing the herd, we hope to have an output market so that people can stabilize and develop their long-term livelihoods.
Dr. Nguyen Van Hop - Head of the Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Southern Animal Husbandry Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that in recent years, due to the epidemic situation, the number of Binh Thuan pigs has decreased significantly. In addition, breed management is almost uncontrolled, so this breed has been crossbred and is no longer purebred. In 2009, the Southern Animal Husbandry Institute - Animal Husbandry Institute collected breeding herds and conducted conservation. At the same time, the Animal Husbandry Institute has continuously selected to improve productivity and quality. By 2022, the Ministry of Science and Technology has provided funding to the Southern Animal Husbandry Institute to exploit and develop this breed. Currently, the Binh Thuan pig breed has improved in reproductive ability with an average number of newborn pigs reaching 8 pigs/litter and more than 14 weaned pigs/sow/year. Growth capacity has increased by 15 - 20% compared to the original herd.
Increase economic efficiency
According to the representative of the Southern Animal Husbandry Institute, the unit has closely coordinated with the Binh Thuan Agricultural Extension Center to transfer 40 females and 10 males, feed, and veterinary medicine to livestock households. This breeding herd has contributed to restoring the local pig herd after the epidemic. In parallel, by pure-breeding the Binh Thuan wild pig herd, the Southern Animal Husbandry Institute has exploited this pig breed to crossbreed with the Japanese black pig breed. Initial results show that body weight has increased by about 30% compared to the original pig breed, reproductive capacity has increased by 15%, lean meat ratio has increased by 20% and fat ratio has increased by 2.1%, the meat is tastier than other pig breeds...
Present at the handover ceremony, Mr. Ngo Thai Son - Deputy Director in charge of the Provincial Agricultural Extension Center, hoped that households would maintain and preserve genetic resources and sow herds to expand the piglet herds in the community. At the same time, he said that breeding and raising pigs in ethnic minorities contributes to the development of community tourism as well as diversifying products to build models associated with tourism, creating sustainable livelihoods for people in mountainous communes in general and Dong Giang, Phan Son in particular. Mr. Son said that the Agricultural Extension Center has been connecting with institutes, schools, companies, and enterprises to diversify models for ethnic minority areas, creating more livelihoods for people, not stopping at growing corn for a long time in mountainous areas. Along with grass pigs, in the coming time, the agricultural extension will arrange some more models of growing organic wild vegetables and developing indigenous medicinal plants to support people in having more ways to make a living, escape poverty, stabilize the economy and improve their lives.
Mr. Nguyen Minh Tan - Head of the Provincial Ethnic Minorities Committee said that in the past time, through many funding sources, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, specifically the Agricultural Extension Center, has effectively coordinated the implementation of the agricultural extension program through the construction of demonstration models, transferring technical advances in cultivation, animal husbandry, etc. In which, there is a model of raising indigenous black pigs according to genetic resources that has been selected by the Livestock Sub-Institute, implemented in Dong Giang commune and replicated in Phan Son commune. The attention given to agricultural extension has contributed to gradually changing old production practices, in accordance with local planning, bringing a stable source of income, improving the lives of ethnic minorities. The goal of implementing grass-fed pig farming in Binh Thuan is to restore and spread the pig breed originating here. In the coming time, Binh Thuan can produce the province's typical pork products with value in meat quality, social value, improving economic efficiency for people, especially improving the livelihoods of ethnic minorities here. Binh Thuan’s specialty pork will be a valuable gift for tourists visiting Binh Thuan. This is a model that promises to revive the traditional livestock economy associated with pig breeds with preserved selected genetic resources, combined with the development of rural and mountainous tourism in the near future.
According to the Livestock Sub-Institute, the Binh Thuan grass pig or black pig originated from Dong Giang commune, Ham Thuan Bac district, and was then raised in the South Central provinces. The Binh Thuan grass pig adapts well to harsh climate conditions, has good disease resistance, is very omnivorous, can graze, dig worms, eat dry grass and poor nutritional food. In particular, the Binh Thuan grass pig breed can adapt well to conditions in the sea and islands such as Truong Sa. In addition, this breed of pig has been associated with ethnic minorities in Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan since ancient times, suitable for the farming practices in this place. Livestock products are used in holidays, parties of ethnic minorities... In addition to the very good advantages, the Binh Thuan grass pig breed also has certain disadvantages such as small body mass, slow growth ability and low lean meat ratio.
Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/chuyen-giao-giong-heo-co-ban-dia-cho-vung-dong-bao-hua-hen-lam-sang-kinh-te-chan-nuoi-truyen-thong-119878.html
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