THE Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) of Negros Occidental is pushing for the expansion of the service areas of artificial insemination (AI) in the province to boost the local cattle industry, its top official said.
Provincial Veterinarian Renante Decena said the annual cattle population in Negros Occidental has been increasing.
In a five-year data reported to the Provincial Board recently, the province had produced 49,306 heads of cattle in 2016.
It went up to 49,371 in 2017; 50,052 in 2018; and 51,319 in 2019; and 55,075 in 2020.
Decena said the increasing trend in the cattle population is attributed to natural breeding through the bull houses established by the provincial government two years ago.
"This is on top of the province's AI program for cattle," he said, adding that strong collaboration with partner-association, the United Cattle Raisers Association (Ucrain)-Visayas, also contributed to the increase especially in the commercial scale.
In expanding the service areas of AI in the province, the Provincial Government is banking on the use of semen of new cattle breeds like Angus, Wagyu, Semmintal, Charolais, Brahman and Sahiwal.
Decena said the operationalization of cattle line abattoir with cold storage in Bago City, a joint project of the City Government, Provincial Government and Ucrain, is also a big boost.
"It will enable the province to produce prime quality Negros beef," he added.
The provincial veterinarian added that the cattle sector development contributes to the province's bid to diversify, from just relying on the sugar industry.
Decena said canetops and other farm waste can be converted to beef, as these are potential sources of food for cattle.
"Also, we have pasture land and cattle waste or manure is used in organic farming," Decena said.