The Kitui government will spend Sh30 million on a livestock multiplication campaign through artificial insemination, Governor Charity Ngilu said on Tuesday.
She said the campaign is a game-changer aimed at increasing cattle by 60,000 in one year. Ngilu said it will improve the livestock numbers, especially cattle, and introduce hybrid ones to improve the quantity of milk and quality of beef.
The programme will also involve breeding of goats.
The AI initiative is under the Livestock Sector Development Programme. Scientific methods will be used to synchronise many heifers to be on heat at the same time. Ngilu said private inseminators will be engaged. The inseminators will be led by Deputy Governor Wathe Nzau, who himself is a veterinary.
“Between now and May this year, we hope to artificially inseminate 60,000 heifers aged between 18 and 20 months. Within one year, the heifers will give birth to an equal numbers of calves,” she said.
Ngilu said all the county government officers must be committed to the success of the programme and joyriders and idlers will not be tolerated.
The county boss spoke at Mbitini trading centres in Kitui Rural subcounty, when she launched the livestock multiplication programme.
