Productivity and socio-economic profile of dairy cattle farmers amongst rural smallholder communities in northern Vietnam

The objective of this field questionnaire survey was to describe the productivity and socio-economic profile of dairy cattle farmers in northern Vietnam considering regional differences in rural smallholder farming communities which have been targeted by a governmental dairy development policy. Using two-stage cluster sampling, a total of 99 dairy farming households (11 per commune) were recruited from 9 of 32 communes in Ba Vi District, Ha Tay Province, northern Vietnam. The results from this study indicate that there were regional differences in relation to basic management practices such as effective utilisation of agricultural by-products for feeding and hygiene practices. These can be explained by variation amongst the regions with respect to environmental factors affecting agricultural activities such as constraints on land use and access to water resources. There were also regional differences in the use of governmental support such as agricultural extension services and financial institutions. These can be attributed to proximity of the communities to each of the extension institutions as well as the phased and community-specific approach to the provision of governmental financial support for dairy development.