Government to set up zonal semen centres

One of the greatest cries of dairy farmers using artificial insemination (AI) to serve their cows is the lack of viable semen.

"On average, my cows are served more than five times before they conceive," says Sarah Namulindwa, who has four cows in Seeta, Mukono district. And yet, for every insemination, she pays sh50,000 to the veterinary officer. This means that she loses around sh150,000 for every AI session.  

According to veterinary officers, one of the reasons cows fail to conceive through AI is because the semen may be dead. But then, the problem may not be with the inseminators themselves, but with the semen handling. "The semen is got from Kampala and transported to the villages and in the process, it certainly gets affected in many ways," explained Christopher Kyeswa, a veteran veterinary officer, now working with Africa2000 network.

According to Dr Swidiq Mugerwa, Director National Agricultural Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI), Tororo, government is in final stages of establishing regional semen centres in order to bring the services nearer to the farmers across all regions of the country.

"We have realized that semen is affected through the long journeys from Kampala to the villages. You realize that it has to be kept under a constant temperature if it is to retain its viability," he said.

Mugerwa explained that in addition to ‘bringing' semen nearer to the people, it will also become standard for cows to be served with sexed semen. "In most cases at the moment, you are not sure of the sex of the calf, however we shall make it standard that a farmer knows the sex of the calf before the cow is served," he said.

This is common practice in the developed world, however in Uganda it is only done on request and at an extra fee.  While ordinary semen costs averagely sh50,000 per straw, sexed semen currently cost between sh180,000 and sh300,000.