The Lao governments’ policies on poverty reduction and the elimination of ‘slash-and burn’ upland shifting cultivation are aimed at encouraging farmers to adopt more sustainable agricultural practices that are able to support their economiclivelihoods.  Livestock production has an important role in smallholder farming systems in Lao PDR, providing a means for meeting daily protein intake requirements and for the generation of a cash income for households. The present animal production systems are based on subsistence methods which mainly use low nutrient content feeds. Pig production is an important activity of smallholder upland farm households, with the sale of pigs often accounting for much of the cash income of poor households. The majority (>80%) of pig production is carried out by smallholder farmers.The objective of this study was to examine the potential for improving pig productivity through the adoption of improved feed and management. The on-farm research was conducted in five villages, Ban Nathaen, Ban Naluang and Ban Bak in Viengxai district, and Ban Puong and Ban Kan in Samneua district, of Houaphanh province in Northern Lao PDR (at an average altitude of 925m). One hundred and eleven Lao native weaned pigs aged between 3 and 7 months and with body weights ranging 9.8 and 24kg were used in the study. Using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) experiment, the pigs were divided into two treatment groups with average live weight of 15.72 ± 0.90kg and 14.52 ± 0.70kg for Group 1 and Group 2, respectively. Group 1 animals were fed conventional feed arranged by farmers, comprising a mixture of rice bran, maize and edible household materials. Group 2 were provided with a feed mixture comprising rice bran 50% + ground maize 20% + Stylo (CIAT 184) 30%. The pigs were fed three times daily ad libitum, in the morning at 07:00, at 12:00 and in the evening at 17:00. The feeding trial was conducted over a 90 day period between August and November in 2012. The relative economic gain was assessed in terms of growth performance and liveweight gain relative to feed costs. The results were analyzed using SPSS version 19.0 software (Chicago, Illinois: SPSS Inc, USA). There was a significantly difference (P ˂ 0.01) in average daily weight gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR), with an ADG of 110 ± 6.61g/d vs 189 ± 6.21g/d, and FCR was 9.62 ± 0.38 vs 6.13 ± 0.18 for Group 1 and Group 2, respectively. The replacement of 30% of local feed ingredients by Stylo (CIAT 184) significantly reduced the feed cost per unit live weight gain by an average of 55% (19,000 ± 762 kip/kg vs 8,500 ± 259 kip/kg [P ˂ 
0.01]). Other participatory factors such as age and live weight of pig, and location (household, village, and district) did not have a significant impact on the research outcome.In conclusion, the diet based on a Stylo 184 supplement has manypotential  benefits for household native pig production in the uplands of Northern Lao PDR: (i) Improved  growth rates, shortened feeding period and improved economic returns; (ii) Penning the pigs allows better management of disease and parasite infection; (iii) Reduced time inputs for feed preparation allows farmers to engage in other agricultural activities; (iv) Gender equivalence in the process of collecting Stylo and preparing feed.

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