HYDERABAD, Aug 17 (APP):The Sindh Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, Mohammad Ali Malkani on Monday said the provincial government was taking concrete measures to improve livestock breeding and enhance milk and meat production, including expansion of artificial insemination services, production of quality semen international standards and recruitment of technically qualified livestock staff. At a meeting at the department's office here, Malkani directed the concerned officials to ensure effective implementation of …
Minister says livestock breeding being strengthened to enhance milk, meat production
HYDERABAD, Aug 17 (APP):The Sindh Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, Mohammad Ali Malkani on Monday said the provincial government was taking concrete measures to improve livestock breeding and enhance milk and meat production, including expansion of artificial insemination services, production of quality semen international standards and recruitment of technically qualified livestock staff.
At a meeting at the department’s office here, Malkani directed the concerned officials to ensure effective implementation of artificial insemination targets and improve monitoring of field activities.
He further asked them to run an awareness campaign for the farmers through media advertisement to inform them about the availability of improved livestock breeds and to enable them to benefit from the breeding facilities being provided by the department.
He also stressed the need for a strong social media awareness campaign to disseminate information.
“Regular digital reporting and public awareness will help improve monitoring and achievement of departmental targets,” he underlined.
The minister also directed the officials to improve the LNG supply at all insemination centers and improve maintenance of cold chain mechanisms.
Discussing human-resource requirements, he said several posts of Livestock Inspectors were lying vacant and that the same should be filled soon.
“Livestock requires specially trained technical staff, and an ordinary graduate can’t perform these duties effectively,” he acknowledged, adding that the government was considering changing the existing recruitment mechanism particularly in technical fields.
Malkani said they were considering alternative recruitment mechanism, including the possibility of entrusting the recruitment process to Sindh Agriculture University or Sakrand University of Veterinary Sciences.
The minister was briefed that 24 Artificial Insemination (AI) Centres and 124 AI Sub-Centres were operating across all districts of Sindh to provide high-quality breeding services to farmers and promote improved livestock breeds in the province.
The officials informed that livestock breeding App had also been launched to further strengthen the breeding capacity of livestock industry.
They added that 54,000 artificial inseminations had so far been carried out in the last year achieving around 70 percent of the overall target.
The officials told that for the current year, a target of 48,000 artificial inseminations had been set, while 126 Veterinary Officers (VOs) were working to support the programme.
According to them, they were focusing on the production of quality semen to improve conception rates and breeding outcomes under the Sindh Livestock and Aquaculture Development Project (SLADP), supported by the World Bank.
