Georgetown: The Ministry of Agriculture under the arm of the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) was able to gain from pure bred semen imported from the United States of America to reproduce 548 new breeding animals.
This was done in an effort to ensure food security, as well as making way for the future exportation of local produce, including meat.
Minister in charge of the sector, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy explained that the high quality genetic materials are the way forward to enhance production of meat, ensure food safety and better the size and quality of produce to international standards.
Adding that Guyana has the largest Imported Food Bill in the Caribbean, Ramsammy said the artificial insemination initiative was set up under the Agriculture Diversification Programme (ADP), and it was under this programme 33 bulls were imported from Florida at a cost of $26M.
These bulls bought are of the species- Brahman, Beef Master, and Brangus. Each cost roughly about $800,000. These bulls are commonly used for breeding and meat purposes.
The Semen of these animals were all extracted, evaluated, preserved, and processed at the Artificial Insemination Lab, a multi-million dollar facility located in the GLDA compound, Agriculture Road, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara.
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