New Delhi: India has imported 40,000 doses of bull semen from Brazil for the first time. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has imported the doses. Bull semen was imported to increase milk production via artificial insemination.
The NDDB aims to increase the number of Indian native breeds, Gir and Kankrej, and raise their milk production. NDDB is a government-owned cooperative that owns and operates the Mother Dairy brand.
‘The first imports of 40,000 semen doses just took place this month by India’s NDDB. It’s been a project for a long time. For three to four years, they have been discussing it. Though it was a tough discussion, we managed to solve it and now import has taken place,’ said Angelo de Queiroz Mauricio, agricultural attaché at Brazil’s embassy in New Delhi. It is unclear if India will import more doses in future.
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‘NDDB is going to use the doses in an existing research project to get animals that have Brazilian genetics with a capacity of producing more than 80 litres of milk per animal. The average here is eight litres. Some animals in Brazil can even produce up to 40 litres of milk. However, the average is 20-22 litres per animal, said Mauricio.
The union government is targeting to produce 330 million tonnes (mt) of milk per annum by FY34. India produced 230.6 mt of milk in FY23, a 3.8% increase from a year ago and a 22.8% rise from FY19, according to an Indian government statement.
India is the world’s largest milk producer, contributing 24% to global output, followed by the US and China. Gir or Gyr is one of the principal Zebu breeds that originated in India.Zebu cattle originated in Southwest Asia and have evolved from three breeds of Indian cattle. It was gifted by the Maharaja of Bhavnagar to Brazil in the 18th century, and Brazil has preserved the original breed of Gir cows. Over the years, Gir has become a high milk-producing breed and is quite popular in South American countries due to its ability to survive extreme weather.
At the same time, India saw a constant decline in the number of indigenous varieties as farmers preferred breeds like Jersey, which are of British origin and yield more milk. Jersey cows give about 20 litres per animal a day on average. Jerseys cross-bred with Indian breeds can give 8-10 litres, and the Indian breed of Gir cows can give 6-10 litres, as per the Indian Agriculture Research Institute.
