Economic efficiency of ruminant production in Dien Bien district, Dien Bien province
This research aimed to assess the current production and economic efficiency and propose the optimally saleable age for the farmers of extensive, semi-intensive, and intensive groups in three communes: Noong Hẹt, Noong Luong, and Thanh Yen, by using the descriptive investigation and the economic accounting with Tropical Livestock Units TLU indicator to evaluate the cost, the profit, and the efficiency of 3 groups. The results showed that the extensive group have the lowest direct costs of 730.53 thousand VND per individual per year, and intensive farms have the highest with 2724.19 thousand VND per individual per year. However, the family’s labor of the extensive group was spent the most time on grazing lands, so they have less free time. But, they still find the job more straightforward than the semi-intensive and intensive farmers. If direct costs were taken into account, the economic efficiency of the intensive group was the highest (For every 1 VND spent VND for the costs then get 0.43 VND in profit, and the extensive group is the lowest (For every 1 VND spent VND for the cost then get 0.34 VND in profit). The more intensive the farming practices applied, the shorter the optimally saleable age of ruminants would be. The conclusion is that intensive group are the most effective in the situation which is gradually shrinking pastoral land.
