In remote villages up to 30-40% animals die from various diseases and are sold in a hurry with a heavy discount. This is an enormous loss for the farmer and also a serious risk for the customers. In Vietnam we have trained more than 100 para vets: they are relatively poor farmers from the same villages, trained in their own district several days a week so that they do not spend much on transport and they can still keep an eye on their farm.

The training is half theoretical, half practical. It is dispensed in collaboration with government professional schools who are only allowed to deliver an official certificate. To train a para vet costs approxiatmely 170 €. 2/3 of the trained para vets exert their new job, the best are busy full time and treat thousands of animals. Their income can be more than 180 €/month, a miracle in the village context.

The farmers are the first to benefit: the para vets make their diagnosis on the farm, unlike the veterinary shops. The treatments are more accurate and a lot cheaper. The farmers are thus more than ready to pay the para vets for their services. The programs do not pay them, but regular meetings and follow-up trainings are provided. They can also count upon the support of the program veterinary doctors.

Many para vets have become real experts and good trainers. A certain number have been recruited by the programs to work as full time staff. They are closer to the farmers than most engineers, and are ready to look for low cost solutions.

Similarly for agriculture: dozens of technicians have been trained and constitute an effective network for helping faraway farms at minimal cost. However the agriculture village technicians find it quite difficult to be paid by the farmers: a pig may die in a few hours and the outcome of the para vet's intervention will be quite obvious. Whether a fruit tree has been saved or not will be known after many weeks and even then how confidently can the technician claim it is thanks to its service? So the village agriculture technicians are supported by the communes and when for specific tasks also by the program.

In Cambodia much remains to be done. The government policy is to train 1 VLA (Village Livestock Assistant) per village, i.e. about 150 households. As a consequence the VLAs are too many and only a very few have enough work, to gain experience and earn a living. Their training is also too short: a few weeks (6 months part-time in Vietnam). Often their income as VLA is not more than afew dozen euros/month.