The Kano state Agro Pastoral Development Project (KSADP) has spent N113 million on an Artificial Insemination Centre at Kadawa, for genetic improvement of local cattle to enhance their production.

The project Communication Specialist, Mr Ameen Yassar, stated this in a statement on Sunday, in Kano.

He said that the project was funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and Lives and Livelihood Funds (LLF).

Yassar explained in the statement that, “N103 million was spent on the renovation and equipping of the centre, while N9.2 million was spent on the supply of five exotic bulls for the artificial insemination”.

The officer added that no fewer than 25,000 cows would be artificially inseminated at the centre annually.

He explained that, “In artificial insemination, semen of bulls of superior quality is collected and used to inseminate females to conceive offspring with the desired traits, such as high milk yield, meat and disease resistance”.

Yassar noted that artificial insemination would result in the development of a more productive cattle population in the state and country at large.

He quoted the Project Coordinator, Malam Ibrahim Garba-Muhammad, as saying that reviving the centre was part of wide-scale initiatives to deepen agro-pastoral productivity and production.

“Such initiatives includes breed improvement, livestock productivity and production enhancement, commercial fodder production and crop residue utilization from emerging sources.

“Others are, establishment of fodder banks, improving animal health services, upgrade of 20 slaughter houses and establishment of 200 milk collection centres,” he said.

He also said in the statement that, Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje, had launched the state-wide cattle and small ruminants vaccination campaign for 2022.

Yassar noted that they were targeting “1, 025, 000 cattle and 750, 000 goats and sheep, and it was expected to gulp N170, 440, 870.”

“The objective is to protect the livestock from Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) and other major diseases challenging their productivity and health,” he said.

He added that it would also assist in improving the livestock overall quality of life, which in turn, would promote human health and prevent economic loss.

He recalled that in 2021, the exercise was conducted successfully, “as 701,042 cattle and 663,570 sheep and goats were vaccinated.”

Yassar explained that 220 Community Animal Health Workers, 30 International Committee for Red Cross-supported Community Animal Health Workers and 880 inoculators would conduct the exercise, this year.

According to him, the vaccinators would conduct the exercise under the supervision of 41 veterinary doctors.