June 9, 2011

Tajikistan to receive 12,000 pedigree cattle

The national livestock breeding programme designed for 2008-2015 will result in 12,000 head of pedigree cattle to be delivered to Tajikistan, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

Safarali Nazarov, head of the MoA stock raising department, said 214 pedigree black-and-white cows were delivered to the country under that programme last year. "The pedigree cows have been handed over to the cattle breeding farm, Barakat, in Hissar district," he noted. According to him, the country's budget every year earmarks TJS200,000 (US$43,779) for implementation of the national livestock breeding programme.

Fifty-seven cattle breeding farms now function in Tajikistan; 5 of them are run by the state. Specialists said the majority of the cattle breeding farms in the country are dekhkan (peasant) farms or joint-stock companies that do not have enough opportunities for breeding pedigree cattle, and therefore, they need government support for further development.