The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) has completed the construction of two of the four artificial insemination laboratories, which have been planned for four regions of the country, at a cost of 33.2 million Br. The other two will be completed by the end of the current fiscal year.
The four laboratories are being constructed in Mekele, Tigray Region; Bahir Dar, Amhara Region; Hawassa, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region, and Nekemte, Oromia region.
While the two in Mekele and Bahir Dar have been completed, the other two, in Nekemte and Hawassa, are 90pc and 75pc complete, respectively, according to Gebregziabher Gebreyohannes, state minister for Livestock Development Clusterat the Ministry of Agriculture.
The procurement of equipment for the four laboratories is being done by the Public Procurement and Property Disposal Services (PPPDS) at a cost of 27.3 million Br.
The equipment includes artificial organs and liquid nitrogen that can conserve the semen at negative 196 degree Celsius.
“Each of the centres is expected to supply 500,000 doses of semen per year, which will boost the productivity of the cows and the meat oxen,” said Esayas Tessema (PhD.), NAIC’s director. However, “we have good number of livestock; we are not working to increase the number but improve the quality of the livestock the country has,” he added.
Up until now, the country has been relying on a single 35 year-old National Artificial Insemination Centre (NAIC) that has a capacity of supplying one million doses of semen to the whole country.
“The distribution of the semen so far was to areas found within a 100Km radius of Addis Abeba, where the laboratory is located. The new ones will help distribute the semen to different places in their respective areas,” said Gebregziabher.
The bulls selected for the insemination are obtained from South Africa and Asia.
Cows in the country can give milk that ranges from one litre to two litres a day, but hybrids bred through artificial insemination can give eight litres to 12 litres of milk a day, according to Esayas.
Hybrid livestock also have stronger immunity and the bulls become ready for slaughter within a year and a half, yielding up to 1,000kg of meat, while local bulls take up to four years and give 600kgs of meat on average, saidDemere Fikremariam, species improvement work process head at the NAIC.
“Artificial insemination is the fastest and easiest way of improving species; a bull may not make more than 50 calves in its lifetime but this way, it can do more than 100,” he added.
For the follow-up and collection of the sperm cells produced, the first phase of training experts is being carried out by the Ministry with20 experts from Tigray and Amhara having already received training. The second phase will train experts from the other centres, Demere said.
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