AI PERFORMANCE & PLAN - TIGRAY

SOME REALITIES OF THE REGION Land area :- about 54,572.6 km2

Location :- found between the geographical coordinates of 36027’ to 39059’ East and 12015’ to 14057’ North

An estimated human population of over 4.3 million, growing at a rate of 3% per annum.

About 80.5% of the population lives in rural areas

Average arable land holding per household => 0.92 hectare

Rugged terrain - difficult to cultivate Annual rainfall amount =>300 - 800 mm Livestock production is an integral part of

the region's agricultural production system Major farm animal genetic resources

include cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, mules, camels, chickens and honey bees.

Total Livestock population is estimated at around 4.2 million tropical livestock units (TLU), which includes 3,242,931 heads of cattle, 1,149,717 heads of sheep 2,621,227 heads of goats, about 467,483 equines, 32,288 camels, Over 4,266,077 chickens 195,662 bee colonies(CSA,2010) out of

which114,981 are in Langstroth bee hive, the rest in traditional beehive

(CSA, 2010, TBoFED, 2007). There are three dominant breeds of cattle in the

region:- Arado, Begait and Raya and three or more breeds of sheep & goats.

Begait (wrongly named as Barca)is the best dual purpose breed of the region ( the country).

Feed source : mainly grass and crop residues => deficient in protein

No private or governmental feed processing plant in the region

Majority of the farmers are illiterate & therefore exercise traditional animal husbandry practices.

Agro-climatically Tigray can be classified

AI IN THE REGION Objective:- To bring forth an animal that can

produce more than the existing breeds of the region and can live in harmony with the available environment.

Strategy:- Limited Cross Breeding; the level of inheritance for exotic blood is limited to 50%, not more or less( i.e. in case of dairy) .

AI service provision was started 19 years back in the capital - Mekelle & Adigrat.

Now the service is given by 70 AI Ts in 33 Werdas & the capital town, at 52 breeding units and one farm (TDA farm).

Liquid nitrogen and other consumables are distributed to these breeding units every month from a sub centre established in 2001G.C.It is only for semen supply that the staffs of the sub centre come to Addis Ababa.

History

The sub centre has two liquid nitrogen producing plants each with a production capacity of 10 litres per hour.

AI was intended to cross the indigenous animals thereby increase the milk productivity of these animals.

The breeds used for cross breeding in the region at present are pure HF, Jersey, Begait HF cross (50%) and pure Begait.

The service is given on call & stationed basis. As indicated the semen is obtained from NAIC. This year, With the help of ILRI / IPMS

synchronization and subsequent insemination of cows is started in & around three major towns –Alamata, Adigrat & Wukro.

In the coming year (2004) and the years ahead it is envisaged by the Regional Bureau to use this technology in wider scale in identified potential areas both for dairy & beef production.

In 2004 alone it is planned to synchronize & inseminate 2000 animals.

REGIONAL AI PERFORMANCE FROM 1985 to 2003 EC

Year 1st AI PDpositive forPD

positive byowners report

Calf Crop

TotalM F

1985 348 38 46 84

1986 509 148 167 315

1987 944 565 455 - 195 215 410

1988 986 674 549 - 279 291 570

1989 938 681 547 - 277 264 541

1990 962 813 671 - 336 286 622

1991 1026 648 533 - 311 290 601

Year 1st AI PD

positive forPD

positive byowners report Calf Crop Total

M F

1992 1389 728 551 - 285 266 551

1993 1990 1124 845 316 288 604

1994 1980 1165 831 311 290 601

1995 2388 1401 955 220 335 390 725

1996 4053 2442 1684 463 620 640 1260

1997 5683 3968 2707 443 948 959 1907

1998 4185 3078 2243 823 845 1668

Year 1st AI PD

positive forPD

positive byowners report Calf Crop Total

M F

1999 4766 3998 2453 537 945 950 1895

2000 3282 2381 1746 523 529 1052

2001 6941 5376 3988 1008 1710 1709 3419

2002 12176 11668 8677 2083 3070 3184 6254

2003 13190 11024 8238 2166 3101 3239 6340

Total 67736 51734 37673 6920 14571 14848 29419

Duties & Responsibilities of the Regional Semen Bank (RSB) Planning regionally Semen requirements by breed & blood

level, Number of female population to get AI

service AI Consumables required, Capacity building M & E Reporting Etc

5 year AI Regional plan :-

s.n Activities unit year total

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

1 Liquid Nitrogen production & Distribution

liter 32400

41040 54000

66960

79920

274320

2 Semen Supply dose 37875

42875 47500

52500

57500

237750

3 No. of insemination pcs 30300

35500 40000

47500

52000

205300

4 No. of pregnancy ‘’ 13125

21210 24850

28800

34200

122185

5 Calves born ‘’ 11812

19089 22365

25920

30780

109966

6 training ‘’

6.1

New AI technicians ‘’ 20 30 30 30 0 110

6.2

In service training ‘’ 70 90 120 150 180 610

7 Breeding unit ‘’ 20 30 30 30 0 110

8 Ranch ‘’ 0 1 0 0 0 1

9 semen processing laboratory

‘’ 0 1 0 0 0 1

10 liquid nitrogen plant ‘’ 0 0 1 0 0 1

Besides AI, indigenous cattle of good performance such as Begait are introduced to some Weredas every year.

Challenges Lack of Right Breeding Facilities( to handle cattle) Critical shortage of transport Inadequate professional supervision Assigning AI technicians to other activities Allocating AI motorcycles for various non-AI services Less attention by the Bureau/District offices to this

activity. Lack of skilled manpower to maintain the LN2 plants

Challenges cont… Lack of proper Knowledge in Heat detection Few AI technicians do not have enough skill. There is no strong extension service concerning

AI. Lack of Incentive for efficiency, for extra

activities (holly days, weekends,…..) Lack of integration at all levels. Less suitable infrastructure to transport cryo-

cans.

Opportunities Presence of regional semen bank Plan to purchase transport facilities Ongoing RANCH establishment to

conserve, improve, multiply and utilize Begait cattle, goat & sheep breeds.

ILRI/IPMS involvement & assistance on Genetic improvement program.

Essentials we should think of & carry out Livestock development depends as much on

how we effectively work together .

And the essentials which we should look ahead are: Establishment of infrastructures that are

helpful to keep & improve the quality standards of animals & animal products.

Professional love & ethics.

Essentials Cont…

Provision of market information service to producers & traders.

Assist livestock owners to build confidence in the marketing system.

Organization of livestock producers & professionals.

Promotion of best practices thru Livestock show programs, incentives, etc.

etc