shloboe boe
Raymond jaravaza, raymondjaravaza@gmail.com
ZIMBABWE and Indonesia have sealed a partnership to boost livestock production in the country with 1 000 semen straws harvested from five top quality Indonesian breeds being infused into the local genetics pool through Artificial Insemination (AI).
Based on the estimated 65 percent conception rate, 1 000 semen straws could give the country 650 to 700 new genetics in the local breeding pool and that number translates to an improvement in the cattle industry, industry experts say.
This is a huge milestone for Zimbabwe and Southern Africa coming shortly after the commissioning of a livestock Gene Bank for the region housed at the Matopos Research Institute on the outskirts of Bulawayo.
Hopes are high that local livestock farmers would benefit immensely from the improved breed quality and in turn significantly grow the national herd with higher impact along the beef to leather value chain.
The Asian imported breed semen straws are being introduced to the local gene pool of Simmentals, Angus, Brahman, Limousin and Holstein through a robust AI programme for cross breeding.
AI is a process that involves mechanically introducing bull semen into a cow’s reproductive tract to achieve pregnancy, and it has been proven to have a higher success rate.
The Matopos Research Institute has already established an animal Gene Bank that is expected to provide for the harvesting of around 1 500 to 3 000 semen straws per bull per season for AI.
Under natural mating, a bull can only service around 25 to 30 animals per season.
This week the Indonesian government, through its Embassy to Zimbabwe and Zambia, deployed its delegation to Bulawayo, which met farmers from Matabeleland South in Esigodini where prominent local pedigree farmer, Mr Obert Chinhamo, was one of the pioneers and beneficiary of the project.
A team of agricultural experts, from both Zimbabwe and Indonesia, has been moving around the country implementing the AI programme to local farmers as part of a project to introduce exotic cattle genetics to indigenous breeds.
Indonesia Ambassador to Zimbabwe and Zambia, Mr Dewa Made Sastrawan, said Zimbabwe could benefit more from how the Asians have capacitated their animal gene laboratories to capacitate their farmers by providing subsidised genetics that improve the quality of beef and increase milk production.
“As part of bilateral relations between Indonesia and Zimbabwe, my government has a grant that was set aside for capacity building programmes in areas such as food security. That is why we are here donating 1 000 straws of bull semen to improve the genetics of local farmers in Zimbabwe,” he said.
Amb Sastrawan said a team of Zimbabwean agricultural experts was in Indonesia for a month earlier this year to gain knowledge in the field of Artificial Insemination so that they can come back and implement the programme.
“In a few months, maybe in February or March next year, another team from Zimbabwe will be trained again so that they can come to farms and get the progress of the pregnancy rate of the cattle that were artificially inseminated with the straws,” he said.
“In Indonesia, we have capacitated and developed our genetics laboratories so that our farmers are supplied with affordable genetics because we understand the importance of food security for our people.”
Mr Chinhamo, who specialises in Simmentals and Simbrah breeds, said the introduction of new genetics from Indonesia into the local gene pool will eliminate the problem of in-breeding.
In-breeding in cattle is when animals that are more closely related breed and the practice can have negative effects on the off springs including lower growth rates, higher mortality rates, poor reproductive efficiency and higher frequency of hereditary abnormalities.
“1 000 straws of bull semen at 65 percent conception rate will give the country 650 to 700 new genetics in the local breeding pool and that number translates to an improvement in the cattle industry.
“Having new genetics in the cattle breeding industry eliminates inbreeding, a challenge that the country has been facing for years. So, the coming of the new genetics will eliminate that problem,” said Mr Chinhamo.
Mr Givious Sisito, chief research officer at the Matopos Research Institute, said cross breeding the exotic genetics from Indonesia with local breeds such as the African Tuli, Nguni and Africander, among others will benefit the country in a big way.
“Zimbabwe is better suited to benefit from the new genetics by cross breeding say our own local Nguni or Tuli breed with the new genetics of Holstein from Indonesia, which means the offspring will have 50 percent adaptability and resilience to disease traits while the other 50 percent will be the beef or milk production traits from the exotic breeds,” said Mr Sisito.
“The country has been facing drought and diseases and that combination wiped out huge herds of cattle thereby decreasing the national herd. So, it’s important that as a country we have a robust Artificial Insemination programme supported by the new genetics from Indonesia.
“We are pushing for artificial insemination to complement natural insemination, which is rather slow. So, expanding the country genetics pool will enable us to do better genetics evaluations to come up with high quality breeds that are adaptable to the local environment,” he said.
Dr Biko Gadaga, head of the Mazowe Bull Centre and Semen Processing Laboratory said: “The Indonesian breeds are quality genetics with good traits, which is critical for farmers in order to improve their herds,” he said.
Dr Gadaga said it was critical that that country conserves the exotic breeds by storing the genetic material in a laboratory.
Matopos Research Institute, situated about 30km from Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, established an animal Gene Bank laboratory to aid preservation and conservation of indigenous breeds through artificial insemination.
Artificial insemination is the cheapest method the country can adopt to improve the national herd as buying bulls can be expensive for farmers who are not able to buy the best breeds.
Official data from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development indicate that Zimbabwe’s national herd in 2021 stood at 5,5 million.
Following the launch of the Livestock Growth Plan in 2020, the Government targets a national herd of six million by 2025.
