7 June 2011
Maputo — The Mozambican government will soon begin importing bulls to accelerate the programme to boost livestock so that in the short term the country will have two million cattle.
According to Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco, Mozambique now has about 1.5 million animals, compared with only 300,000 in 1992, the year in which the General Peace Agreement brought an end to 16 years of war.
Pacheco told AIM that “this represents a great effort, but I must say that there is still room to accelerate the promotion of livestock”. He added that under the Strategic Plan for Agricultural Development the government has decided to implement a massive programme of artificial insemination covering cattle and goats.
He explained that the programme aims to ensure that Mozambican producers can improve the genetic potential of their animals and have a more reliable reproductive base “so that we can achieve the target of two million cattle in the shortest possible time”.
Apart from this programme, the Strategic Plan for Agricultural Development also provides for measures to overcome some of the principle constraints to development in the production of livestock.
Constraints include the low productivity of the existing stock due to the poor genetic quality, inadequate husbandry techniques, the weak network of veterinarian assistance in the family sector, and a lack of infrastructure for providing drinking water.
AllAfrica – All the Time
View the original here:
Govt Imports Breeding Cattle