Murra buffalo: How much does the government earn annually from semen collection?

It is believed that the advanced breed of Murra   buffaloes, which are going to be brought to Nepal with the help of the Government of India, will be an important achievement for the improvement of the breed.

In view of the special importance of breed improvement in increasing milk production, a national campaign for artificial insemination of animals was started in Nepal from 2069. Since then, through animal breeding offices in Pokhara, Lahan and Nepalganj, semen has been collected and sent to different districts of the country for improving the breed of animals.

Dr. Jagdish Pandey, Head of IA’s National Animal Breeding Office, Pokhara, informed by collecting semen through the office for improving the pure breed of cattle and goats. According to him, last year, around six lakh doses of semen were collected from the Pokhara office alone and sent to different districts. That year, 300,000 doses of semen were distributed from the Lahan office and 50,000 doses from the Nepalgunj office.

He said that the Pokhara office collects three million 96 million in annual revenue from semen collection and distribution. The office aims to increase the dose of semen by 33 percent this year compared to the previous year.

Last year, 571,000 doses of semen were collected from cattle and goats. From which it is estimated that the revenue will be collected around Rs.5 crore. It is said that Rs 3 crore has been collected till March of the current year.

Dr. Pandey said that in recent times, with the improvement of breeding, farmers are moving towards padapadi and rearing calves. He said that due to breeding improvements, the buffaloes that used to give 7/8 hundred liters of milk per day have now started to give 27/28 hundred liters of milk.

Informing that the buffalo breeding program has started giving milk up to 38/39 hundred liters in return, he said that the murres that are said to be brought from India will give 4,000 to 4,200 liters of milk in return. It is estimated that buffaloes give milk for an average of 305 days.

“For years of breeding improvement efforts, Murra breed is about to come”, he said, “Genetic material coming is not a common thing, it is priceless in itself.” With the arrival of Murra, the Pokhara office has prioritized the matter of managing them. It is customary to keep the animals brought for breeding purposes in quarantine for 21 days after being brought. He said that the quarantine cells have been prepared for the coming Murra buffalo and the shed is ready.

Stating that the necessary procedure should be followed when bringing from other countries, he informed that the technical team will first reach and conduct necessary investigations on the murra that is going to be brought. It is a practice for the technical team to get full information about whether or not there is any disease, the condition of the testicles, how it moves, etc. in the animals that the technical team is going to bring, and if there is no disease, they will be brought only after being certified by the official veterinarian of the respective country. He said that it will come within a month and a half, but the exact date has not been fixed, he informed.

According to him, semen is being collected from eight of the 12 buffalo currently in Pokhara. There are 58 bulls and cows in the animal breeding office in Pokhara. Of which 31 are collecting semen and 27 are growing. With the help of Nepal Livestock Sector Innovation Project (NLSIP), four of the six bulls brought from America are in Pokhara and semen has been collected from them two days a week.

Sushil Khadka, an expert in agriculture and economics, informed that the project is working with the goal of making the state self-sufficient in animal products by informing the farmers about the pure breed of animals. At that time, there is a history that jersey was brought to Nepal for the first time during the time of Rana Prime Minister Janga Bahadur with the purpose of racial reform.

Since then, bulls were officially brought from America through the NLS IP project. Khadka said that murra buffalo, which is going to be brought to Nepal with the help of the Indian government, will be important for increasing productivity.

“Currently there are few milking buffaloes in Nepal”, he said, “Padis born from the semen of Murra buffalo, which are going to be brought from India, have more capacity to give milk.”