Pork and Sweetpotato, Please

The facts are simple: Pigs are efficient converters of food into meat, and they like sweetpotato. Pork is an extremely important source of protein in Asia, especially China and Vietnam. Most of it comes from backyard pig producers, who grow sweetpotato for use as feed. However, pig nutrition on small farms is generally poor and the animals suffer serious deficiencies in protein, especially lysine and methyanine.

In an innovative program, agricultural research institutions in Asia are collaborating with CIP and ILRI to improve smallholder sweetpotato-pig systems. Pioneered by CIP in Vietnam in the mid-1990s, this effort has successfully developed new sweetpotato varieties, methods to prepare and store feed as silage, and provided farmer training in crop and animal husbandry. The net impact of these efforts was increased incomes on small farms and a more abundant food supply.

“Significant gains in productivity in small-holder pig production are possible with a modest investments in research and extension services,” says Keith Fuglie, leader of CIP’s Impact.

Enhancement Division. For example, silage consisting of sweetpotato roots and foliage can be kept as high quality feed for up to six months. It does not need to be cooked to make it palatable to the animals, and the same amount of feed produces more meat. This work as been supported by Asian Development Bank and ACIAR.

CIP and ILRI researchers and their partners in national pro­grams in China, Vietnam and Indonesia are also developing farmer extension models to show how best to use the new methods and varieties.

“Before, I did not use much of the sweet potato, particularly the vines. Then I heard that sweet potato roots and vines could be preserved as silage,” said Liang Quang Song of Tainle village, Sichuan province, China. “After attending the training course, I learned how to make good silage. Now I can use all the roots and vines I produce for my pigs.”