Idris Abubakar
Kano State Agro Pastoral Development Project, KSADP, has awarded contract worth N9, 265, 000 for the supply of five pure breed Friesian bulls, for Animal Insemination at Kadawa Animal Insemination Center, in Garun Malam Local government area of the state.
The Project Communication Specialist, Ameen K. Yassar in a statement on Friday said Friesian cattle produce large quantities of milk and their male calves can also be fattened to produce good quality beef.
The State Project Coordinator, KSADP, Malam Ibrahim Garba Muhammad announced this shortly after signing the contract documents at the headquarters of the State Ministry of Justice, Audu Bako Secretariat in Kano city.
“You may be aware that Kano has two Animal Insemination centres in Kadawa and Makoda which lack equipment. Our project will equip and operationalize the one at Kadawa to enable it inseminate 25,000 cows per annum, beginning from this year. That is why we are providing the bulls.”
“Artificial Insemination (AI) is an Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) used globally to deposit stored semen directly into a cow or heifer’s uterus. It has several advantages over natural mating including reducing the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases among cattle and improving genetic quality of livestock.”
According to Ibrahim Garba, the insemination strategy will go a long way in improving the livelihoods of pastoralists and cattle breeders, particularly given the increasing need for dairy products and beef in the state and the country at large.
This initiative, he explained, “is part of the project’s objective to contribute to improving food and nutrition security as well as reducing poverty in the state.”
Defined by the United Nations, food security is “the condition in which all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.”
