The government is planning to conduct a mass campaign to promote artificial insemination in livestock to improve varieties and to fulfil the country’s increasing demands for protein.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock is expected to start the mass-campaign, which will create awareness among the people about this, in Thakurgaon on May 6.
“After finishing the campaign in northern districts, the ministry will conduct the campaign in other districts of the country,” Fisheries and Livestock Minister Mohammad Sayedul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune last week.
At the same time, the government will also establish five new “Semen Laboratories” in the country. At present, Bangladesh only has one such laboratory in Dhaka. The new laboratories will be established in Rajshahi, Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Sylhet. The Semen Laboratory in Rajshahi is expected to be completed by next month.
The initiative has been taken to preserve high quality semen from cattle and chicken, after importing the specimens from abroad.
The minister also said India has fulfilled its demand for animal protein through milk, meat and eggs from its local production. It has done so by conducting cooperative activities in the sector.
“The Indian authority has operated artificial insemination programmes throughout the country to improve the varieties of cattle and poultry. It helped them to become self-sufficient in the sector even with a population of 135 crore,” he said.
He further added: “But, despite being a small country with a population of only 16 crore, Bangladesh produces a small portion of our real demand. We could not achieve it [self-sufficiency] as most of our varieties are old. We must improve the varieties by artificial insemination and spread it all over the country.”
According to the ministry’s statictics, the basic demand for milk in Bangladesh was around 1.40 crore metric tonnes in the fiscal year 2012-13, while the basic production was at 50.67 lakh tonnes, covering only 30% of the country’s demand. At the same time, basic demand for meat was around 67.20 lakh metric tonnes, while basic production was only 36.20 lakh tonnes, covering 54% of the demand.
Similarly, the annual demand for eggs was around 1597.40 crores in the same year, while basic production was only 761.74 crore, which covered 48% of the country’s needs.
According to the ministry, there are around 330,116 dairy and poultry farms in the country at present with 114,555 of those being registered farms and 212,561 remaining unregistered. Among the farms, 254,762 are poultry farms while the rest are dairy farms.
The minister also noted that a Bangladeshi delegation of experts, led by the fisheries and livestock minister, will visit India soon to gain further knowledge in this regard.
“We will try to ensure improved varieties of cattle and poultry for every family in the country as per the demand. As a result, they will get adequate animal proteins and we will have a meritorious new generation,” he added.