The impact of VietGAHP implementation on Vietnamese households’ pig production

To increase food safety and sustainable environmental development, the Vietnamese government has released a public Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) report for pig production, called “Vietnamese Good Animal Husbandry Practices” (VietGAHP). Studies have yet to investigate not only the institutional factors affecting VietGAHP adoption in household pig farming, but also the impact of such adoption on its criteria’ implementation. The objective of this study is to investigate the factors associated with VietGAHP adoption in household pig production and its impact on implementing its criteria. A Probit model was used to directly indicate the determinants of VietGAHP adoption, and a z test revealed the VietGAHP’s impact by comparing the differences in each criterion’s compliance rates between adopter and non-adopter groups. The results demonstrate that the factors positively contributing to VietGAHP adoption include gender, training, household income, and veterinary services, with the training factor as a substantial contributor. The factors presenting a challenge to this adoption included farm size, the number of family members participating in pig-raising, off-farm income, and biogas, with the latter an especially pivotal factor. Moreover, an expected result of the government’s support was that VietGAHP adoption had a positive impact on 9 out 15 compulsory practices and 8 of 14 optional practices. These imply that to attain food safety and environmental protection goals through a public GAP program for pig production, traditional adoption factors—including a male farmer status, training, household wealth, and veterinary services—remain key pillars on which government policies should focus.