Business Reporter
A LIVESTOCK development programme funded by the country’s four mining houses and Homelink, which has targeted to artificially inseminate about 50 000 beasts in various parts of the country, will be rolled out this month.

Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS) head of programmes and public affairs, Ms Roberta Katunga, said the artificial insemination programme was one of the most innovative and sustainable solutions of supporting the country’s livestock industry.

ZAS is the co-ordinator of the programme, which is being funded by four mining companies namely platinum miners Zimplats and Mimosa, Bindura Nickel Corporation, Zimbabwe Diamond Mining Corporation as well as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s subsidiary, Homelink.

“One of the things that we noticed is that over the years as ZAS we bring together top bulls, the pedigree bulls in the country for showcasing and sale. We, therefore, negotiated with the owners of the bulls to draw semen from their animals to support rural livelihoods and with that in mind the agricultural society becomes the biggest semen bank in the country and we had to approach other players to fund implementation of that project,” said Ms Katunga.

“We mobilised companies to fund the programme and the first was Zimplats, which took up Mashonaland West, Matabeleland South and North Provinces, with a total target of 3 800 cattle. The next was Mimosa, which took up Midlands and Masvingo. Homelink has taken Mashonaland East. Bindura Nickel Corporation has taken Mashonaland Central and Zimbabwe Diamond Mining Corporation has taken Manicaland. The whole country has been covered”.

The pilot project is set to be conducted in the Midlands this month. Ms Katunga said by next year the initiative targets to have inseminated not less than 50 000 animals as it seeks to improve genetics. She said all the mining companies were ready to roll out an accelerated programme.

“It is our hope that for Midlands it would be in May and possibly Manicaland as well,” said Ms Katunga.

Artificial insemination is one of the most effective tools available to cattle producers to improve productivity and profitability of their cattle operation. The model has been commercially utilised for more than 65 years and more effectively in the dairy industry.

Artificial insemination makes selective breeding easier as semen from a desired breed of bull can be easily transported to distant places and can be used for impregnating cows on a large scale.

The services of superior high breed bulls are greatly extended. Semen from a single bull can be used to impregnate more than 3 000 cows. However, through natural breeding, a bull may be able to impregnate only 50 to 60 cows per year.