The livestock sector in Elgeyo Marakwet county has received a major boost after receiving 20 Artificial Insemination (AI) containers from the Kenya Animal Genetics Resources Centre (KAGRC).
The Managing Director Dr. David Kios said KAGRC had signed an MOU with the county government to improve their breeds which will boost milk production.
Speaking in Iten, the MD said his organisation will sponsor the training of eight AI officers in the county on goat AI and embryo transfer saying each training will cost approximately Sh500,000.
The MD lauded the partnership, saying as a result a total of 23,000 cows in the county had been inseminated and hoped that the AI containers will increase the number of farmers accessing the AI services.
According to the CEC livestock Dr. Joseph Kiyeng, the cows had been inseminated with both the sexed semen which the county government was subsidizing from Sh.6,000 to Sh,500 while ordinary semen was going for Sh.200 down from Sh. 2,000 thus making it affordable to most farmers.
Kiyeng said while the county had employed AI officers for each ward, it did not have enough containers and therefore the donated containers will greatly improve AI services across the county especially given that at times they share those available with private providers.
He said the county in its strategic plan was planning to hand over AI services to the cooperative societies while the county government offers a supervisory role and therefore it will require more containers.
“We want to ensure that each cooperative society has its own AI equipment which will make them hire their own AI officers in a bid to address the shortage of AI officers,” he said.
The county secretary Paul Chemuttut thanked KAGRC for the provision of Sahiwal semen to farmers along the Kerio Valley who were specializing in Sahiwal breed of cows.
