To boost artificial cattle breeding, govt slashes semen straw prices

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 12

When the state’s cattle breed improvement programme is facing threat, the government has decided to slash the charges of artificial insemination up to 80 per cent. The artificial insemination is part of state’s breed improvement programme, which was launched three decades back.

With the aim to develop high-milk yielding breeds by using semen of superior bulls for insemination, the Animal Husbandry Department had made a significant advance in the past two decades.

In the recent past due to exorbitant charges for artificial insemination, the breed improvement programme suffered a setback. Last financial year there was significant decline in artificial insemination being done by the government.

As per the statistics, in the financial year 2018-19, the department handled a total 19.70 lakh artificial insemination cases in cows and 17 lakh in buffaloes. The number is almost 8 to 10 per cent less both in cows and buffaloes as compared to the 2017-18 financial year. In 2017-18, a total of 21.30 lakh cows and 18.20 lakh buffaloes were artificial inseminated with high quality semen by the department.

Even in the current financial year, the situation has failed to improve as between April and October in total 10.20 lakh artificial insemination in cows and 9 lakh in buffaloes has been done.

The department sells artificial insemination straws through the Punjab Livestock Development Board on inflated rates. The semen straw which department sells to own farmers for Rs 150 is sold to the other states for just Rs 15.

The outcome of the flawed policy was that dairy farmers were falling prey to the quacks who were selling the semen straw for almost half the price at which the government sells.