NELLORE: Having secured second spot in the last phase of the Centre’s Nationwide Artificial Insemination Programme (NAIP) for bovines, officials in Nellore district are working hard to better the score this time. As the third phase of the programme is set to begin in August, close to 85,000 cows and buffaloes have been artificially inseminated with semen of high genetic bulls this year in 500 villages of Nellore, one of nine districts from Andhra Pradesh included in the programme, with an aim to increase milk production, according to official figures.
Launched in 2019-20 in 605 districts across the country with less than 50 per cent artificial insemination, the programme also aims to genetically improve the farm animals. “Around 85,000 breedable bovine females have undergone artificial insemination in the district; 1.25 lakh vaccines have been administered to them. As NAIP’s third phase will begin on August 1, the scheme will be implemented in in 150 villages of Nellore district with the help of veterinary assistants and Gopalmithra’s. Indigenous breeds will be supplied to the farmers,” said V Koteswar Rao, livestock assistant-animal husbandry.
The programme has, directly and indirectly, benefitted around 70,000 farmers in the district, where the second phase was taken up for 20,000 cattle in 200 villages. “The programme is very useful to develop indigenous cattle. Over 200 farmers in our mandal have benefitted from it as the milk production has gone considerably up,” said K Srihari, a farmer from Kovur mandal.