Farmer experiences with goat raising in Lao PDR: implications for improving husbandry and sustaining viable systems

Goat raising has increased in Lao People’s Democratic Republic due to meat demand from Vietnam. Goat production is low input using free grazing and minimal husbandry. Technical constraints are well known but socio-cultural contexts are poorly understood. This paper describes qualitative research on farmer’s motivations, experiences and learning pathways, to improve goat husbandry. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 smallholder goat farmers in Lao’s South-Central province of Savannakhet. The interviews revealed that farmers relied on their experiences and observations of goat raising in their communities to make their management decisions. Trial and error was a valued learning strategy. Farmers took guidance from the exchange of goat raising experiences with other goat farmers and preferred participatory learning that fostered discussion in familiar village settings. Lao smallholder goat farming systems are a product of compromise across a number of resources. Project interventions that required low investments of labour, land or capital were most readily implemented and adapted by farmers. This study questions the assumption that project interventions are inherently optimal and beneficial for smallholder farming systems. Recommendations propose how farmer’s experiences, constraints and preferences can be incorporated into development approaches to ensure management system changes reflect the desires of smallholder farmers.