For the poorest farmers in Asia, livestock is important for farm operations, income and as a savings strategy. Also, increase in demand for meat presents a lucrative opportunity for farmers to earn more.
We successfully implemented integrated research approaches, encompassing germplasm evaluation, participatory research and extension, and livestock systems analysis.
More than 40,000 southeast Asian farmers are now planting CIAT-related forages, having benefited from higher returns of labor and increased income.
Main Activities
- Providing farmers with improved germplasm and capacity to sustainably manage their farms.
- Developing appropriate farmer participatory methods for the assessment and innovation of potential technologies.
- Developing forages as high value products for the market.
Ongoing Projects
- Enhancing livelihoods of poor livestock keepers through increasing use of fodder.
- Forage legumes for supplementing village pigs in Lao PDR.
- Improving the reliability of rainfed rice and livestock-based farming systems in northeast Thailand.
- Improved feeding systems for more efficient beef cattle production in Cambodia.
Read about CIAT's projects in Asia.