The master of ceremony,
Mahosi ashu,
Representatives of Farmers Unions and Commodity groups
Our partners, both from Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and Technology Innovation Agency (TIA),
National Departments of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF),
Colleagues from the department,
Members of the media fraternity,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Ndi matsheloni!
We gather here today at Vuvha village for the launch of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) project in the Limpopo province. I must emphasise from the onset that this is not a Limpopo launch, but a South African launch. We are privileged that we are hosting this innovation in Limpopo.
It is well documented, ladies and gentlemen, that Limpopo province is endowed with the wealth of indigenous livestock breeds that are well adapted to our harsh and challenging environmental and climatic conditions. One particular example that comes to mind as we gather here today is the Nguni cattle. In recent years this breed of cattle has received a much deserved attention both at national and international arenas.
The importance of Agricultural Research and Innovation in driving economic development and sustainable rural livelihoods of our communities cannot be overemphasised. The scientific community have long indicated that the bull is the major profit driver in a beef cattle enterprise. However, our production systems in the rural emerging cattle sectors are characterised by absence of good bulls as well as low reproductive rates.
The Application of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) project, which we are launching here today, is designed to address these problems of low reproductive rates in rural emerging cattle sector.
The rollout project will supplement Application of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) with Animal Health, Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) technology, Beef Profit Partnership (BPP) model and Training to ensure that productivity challenges are resolved within the rural (emerging) cattle sector. There are various sets of technologies to ensure that bull calves born through the project will survive, grow and used to produce the next generation of calves.
The previous Pilot Project which was funded by TIA using ART technologies reached 18 rural farmers in Limpopo and Eastern Cape Provinces. The current project that we are launching is designed to reach directly approximately 2 125 cattle and 600 farmers in Limpopo province alone. The project is expected to leave at least 400 bulls (worth approximately R5,6 million at 14,000/bull) calves per year that can be utilised for several years with a good exchange scheme.
The objectives of this project is to address low reproductive rates recorded in the emerging herds, and also:
- To introduce genetically superior cattle, which will also improve growth rates
- To introduce the Beef Profit Partnership model which is meant to empower individual rural farmers to participate in the existing modern beef industry value chain
- To support rural famers with Animal health issues to reduce mortality and improve fertility
- To use DNA to verify parentage and identification to deter stock theft and for recoding and improvement schemes
- To build capacity and skills of farmers, and professionals who support emerging farmers.
The Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) project will transfer Nguni calves to local recipients (female cattle), in other words the calves born from the project will be purely Nguni calves, irrespective of the mother from which the calves were born.
The ultimate goal of the project is to introduce a large number of bulls into the emerging sector that will not be related to any female in the village and will also improve genetics of the whole herd. The fact that the bulls will be born in the village will be good for the bulls’ adaptability and also acceptability by the communities.
In conclusion, this project also supports other initiatives of the department such as the NGUNI-IDC cattle scheme. Furthermore, our livestock research team at Mara Research Station have also developed a viable herd of three (3) Nguni cattle ecotypes which continuously serves as a basis of transfer of good genetic materials to farmers.
Noteworthy ladies and gentleman, is that these various programs just simply fortify the fact that the Limpopo Department of Agriculture (LDA) continues to focus on conservation and sustainable utilisation programs for our indigenous livestock such as the Nguni cattle in order to empower rural farming communities of our province.
I thank you, Ndo Livhuwa!
