Indigenous pig production and welfare of ultra-poor ethnic minority households in the Northern mountains of Vietnam

Eliminating ultra-poverty has received particular attention of policymakers and scholars. The ultra-poor in mountainous regions often live on subsistence farming and natural resource extraction. One of the sustainable ways to support them is to find alternative livelihood options that reduce natural resource extraction and increase household income. During the last decades, Vietnam has reduced its poverty significantly. However, the ultra-poor still exist especially among ethnic minority groups in the northern mountains, increasing pressures on already degraded forest resources. This paper assessed the contribution of indigenous pig production to the welfare of ultra-poor ethnic minority households using the propensity score matching method and identified the factors affecting indigenous pig production using generalized Poisson, negative binomial and binary logistic regression models. The analysis was based on the data of 495 rural households surveyed in 2019. Results showed that (1) indigenous pig production had significant and positive effects on household income of and multidimensional poverty reduction among ultra-poor ethnic minority households and (2) the factors positively affecting indigenous pig production are access to credits, number of motorbikes, government support under the poverty reduction programs, road type at the villages, and irrigation systems, while the effects of distance from home to the nearest agricultural input shops and access to the national electricity are negative. We suggest the government to continue improving irrigation systems, road conditions and access to national electricity grids in this mountainous region.