Socio-Cultural Factors Challenging Development Interventions in Cattle Production in the Remote Areas of Vietnam

Socio-Cultural Factors Challenging Development Interventions in Cattle Production in the Remote Areas of Vietnam

New Delhi, India

The northwest highlands of Vietnam are characterized by high altitude, low infrastructure, and low population densities composed of a wide diversity of different ethnic groups. Their socio-cultural characteristics strongly influence their lifestyle and production systems, including agricultural activities. The majority of these people have suffered from slow economic development, with the highest poverty rate in the country. This is a real need for plausible interventions where behavioral changes of smallholders throughout local value chains would be a critical foundation. Our project implemented in this context of development in the Northwest highlands of Vietnam aims to understand the role of socio-cultural factors in cattle production systems in order to propose and examine feasible technical and marketing interventions to improve local grazing-based cattle production. Data on farmers and other actors (collectors, slaughterhouses, retailers and consumers) in local cattle value chains of two selected provinces (Son La and Dien Bien) were collected at the beginning of the project via a baseline survey. In addition, different group discussions with farmers were conducted until the end of the project to monitor the project’s progress and changes created through its interventions. We found that such behavioral changes cannot be motivated by development interventions per se without integrating an understanding of socio-cultural factors (i.e. ethnicity, geographical location and grazing-practices).