Kenya: Cost of Hybrid Cattle Rises
NAIROBI - Dairy farmers in Rift Valley have appealed to the Government to subsidise the high cost of artificial insemination services to improve dairy cattle breeds in the region. The farmers suffer huge expenses in transportation costs for inseminators to their farms in the district, where government funded artificial insemination (AI) schemes are available.
8 December 2006
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Shortage of AI services in rural area is one of the factors that continues to encourages dairy farmers to use of low quality bulls which at times results to inbreeding.
The inseminators should be offered competitive terms of service if they were to effectively serve the ever increasing demand of AI services in the country.
There has been a marked increase in AI schemes provided by both the Government and the private sector since 2002, as reflected in an annual report prepared by the Ministry of Livestock, and Fisheries Department in Rift Valley. A total of 4,268 inseminations were carried out in all the 19 districts in the province, which translated to an increase of 29 per cent, an indication that farmers have realized the advantages of using superior breed material.
Source: The Nation
