A modern "bull calf rearing unit cum mini-lab" built for about Tk 13.5 crore at Laldighi in Pirganj upazila, Rangpur, has done almost nothing since it opened. With no budget for feed and too few staff, the government facility is of no use to the area's farmers and livestock keepers.
The unit was built on 5 acres under the Department of Livestock Services project on expanding artificial insemination and introducing embryo transfer technology. Work began in 2018 and ended in 2023 at a cost of Tk 13,52,54,000. It has an office and laboratory, a semen collection shed, bull sheds, a bull calf pen, a feed store and 30 isolation sheds.
After handover it started with 10 bulls. Semen was produced only once. With no money for feed, the bulls were moved to the Central Cattle Breeding Station in Savar in late 2024, and the unit has been shut ever since.
The department says Bangladesh needs about 20 million doses of semen a year for artificial insemination of cattle. It produces 4.5 to 5 million doses itself, natural service accounts for about 1 million, and private companies and NGOs supply the rest. Pirganj alone has about 3,500 registered farms.
Farmers Bipul Saha of Prajapara, Nurnabi Mondal of Shanerhat and Champa Begum of Dhanshala village said they get nothing from a centre that cost crores and fear the buildings will decay if it stays closed. Running, they said, it could improve cattle breeds and raise milk and meat output across the Rangpur region.
Saidur Rahman, deputy director for artificial insemination in Rangpur, said the unit is closed for now because there is no budget for concentrate feed and not enough staff, and it will reopen once money is allocated. Dr Farida Yasmin, the department's director of artificial insemination, gave the same reasons and said the unit would be restarted quickly once funds arrive.
Agricare24 carried the report from Dhaka Post.
Photo: Ibrahim Husain Meraj / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Agricare24
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