Govt plans to produce 5,000 heifers each year

Deputy Minister of Livestock and Fisheries, Abdallah Ulega, said yesterday during a tour of inspection of livestock activities in the region. Iringa. The deputy minister also visited dairy farms and milk processing plants

. According to Ulega, artificial insemination will be conducted on the dairy farms of Sao Hill and Kitulo in the highlands of southern Tanzania. He said that with improved heifers, dairy farmers will be able to produce hybrid livestock, hence sufficient dairy yields.

He asked milk processors to buy milk produced by small dairy farmers in order to give them financial added value.

Ulega said that Tanzania produces 2 billion liters of milk a year, but less than 10 percent of the milk produced reaches processors. He said the country's dairy sector faces many challenges, including lack of market, storage and cooling.

The Deputy Minister announced that plans are underway to vaccinate animals throughout the country. agents should work to ensure the availability of feed, especially during recruitment seasons. "There should be plans to grow extra food during the rainy season that can be used during the draw," Ulega said.

Nickson Olekeiya, director of the farm in Sao Hill, said that various problems were affecting the production of heifers. According to the director of the Asas Dairy Industry, Fuadi Shelter, the factory buys milk to small dairy farmers in Rungwe, Iringa, Mbeya and Njombe. 19659002] Shelter stated that the capacity of the plant is to process 50,000 liters of milk a day, but that it is currently processing only 22,000.

Tanzania is the second highest livestock population in Africa after Ethiopia. The country's livestock sector is growing at 2.6 percent a year. Tanzania has more than 28 million cattle and 782,995 dairy cattle.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Mary Mashingo, recently stated that the government had purchased 11 pure-bred bulls for crossing at the Arusha Insemination Center. .

Dr. Mashingo stated that the goal is to produce 1 million milk fed cattle each year.

The livestock sector in Tanzania contributes 7.4% of GDP, of which 30% comes from the dairy industry and 40% she said that the sub-sector of meat.