Agriculture authorities have lamented low use of Artificial Insemination-AI services in beef cattle farming in the north saying it is affecting the growth of beef production in the region.
According to statistics from the Mzuzu Agriculture Development Division-MzADD, districts under the Mzuzu ADD which has districts such as Rumphi, Mzimba, Nkhata bay and Likoma has a combined population of beef cattle of over 340 thousand which is very low, a development that is being attributed to laxity towards the use of modern breeding methods.
In an interview with MIJOnline, Thomas Chigowo program’s manager at Mzuzu ADD observed that some cattle farmers are reluctant to use Artificial Insemination-AI services in their farming due to cultural values and other beliefs a thing he said has to be addresses if cattle farming is to develop in the region.
Chigowo further said high cost of acquiring Artificial insemination services among local farmers is hindering the growth of the beef cattle farming business as only a few farmers can afford to use the technology.
“The cost of semen used in artificial insemination is very high and to store the same we use nitrogen which also costs huge sums of money. We also have a shortage of artificial insemination specialists and there is very little knowledge of the same among farmers. All these combined affects uptake of the technology which in turn also affects beef cattle production in the region” lamented Chigowo.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Mponya who is the animal specialist in the Transforming Agriculture Through Diversification and Entrepreneurship-TRADE project said apart from beliefs, the biggest challenge in the north is the unavailability of Artificial Insemination services hence calling on the private sector to take advantage of the said gap by introducing such service so as to boost beef production in the region.
“One of the challenges we have established is that some farmers regard artificial insemination as a taboo and that is affecting its adoption in areas where such services are available. In some instances, we have leant that the services are not available such that those willing to access the same are facing challenges” observed Mponya.
He said this leads to farmers to breed their cattle with less quality mates thus affecting the quality of beef being produced.
“If we are to change the status quo we need corroborations. We have done our part of training artificial insemination specialists and it is now time for the private sector to take advantage of the situation and begin offering the said services to farmers in need“ said Mponya.
The Transforming Agriculture Through Diversification and Entrepreneurship-TRADE, is a Malawi government project and it is supporting the commercialization of the beef value chain in the three northern districts of Rumphi, Karonga and Chitipa with support from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and Opec Fund for International Development (OFID).
