To conserve and develop indigenous breeds to increase milk productivity, the Agriculture Ministry will set up a frozen semen station in Maranga, Purnea in Bihar. The frozen semen station in Purnea will be the first state-of-the-art semen production center of the country. According to Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, the frozen semen station is being set up at a cost of Rs 64 crore under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission with 100per cent contribution from the Central Government.
At present, there are over 74 lakh cows and buffaloes in Bihar, which are capable of breeding, require artificial insemination. However, there is just one frozen semen station in Bihar. It’s located in Patna and produces just 3 lakh artificial insemination straws in a year, which proves to be grossly insufficient to cater to the cattle population here. As a result, the state remains dependent on other states for frozen semen. Bihar has recently imported around 300 bulls of different breeds to promote better artificial insemination facilities in different districts.
Singh said that Rs 20 crore has already been released. “The center will develop highly modern bull shade, semen processing lab, feed and godown, agricultural equipment, and other facilities. In this, 300 high genetic merit bulls will be kept and 50 lakhs of semen dose will be produced per year. Red Sindhi,Bachaur, Gangatiri, Sahiwal breeds will also be kept. With the establishment of this semen station, milk productivity of cows and buffaloes will increase rapidly in the state,” he said.
Frozen semen for all the major indigenous breeds of cows like Red Sindhi, Sahiwal and Gir, as well as, hybrid and foreign breeds like Jersey and Holstein Friesian will be made available through the new facility that will come up at Purnea. Similarly, it will provide artificial insemination facility for a few major breeds of buffaloes, including the Murrah one,” Singh said.