Adoption of Artificial Insemination Services in Dairy Cattle in Rwanda; Case Study of Kigali City

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1 Journal of Animal Science Advances Adoption of Artificial Insemination Services in Dairy Cattle in Rwanda; Case Study of Kigali City Makuza R., Ntawubizi M. and Kabera F. J Anim Sci Adv 2016, 6(7): DOI: /jasa Online version is available on:

2 ISSN: KABERA ET AL. Adoption of Artificial Insemination Services in Dairy Cattle in Rwanda; Case Study of Kigali City 1 Makuza R., 1 Ntawubizi M. and 2 Kabera F. 1 Department of Animal production, School of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Rwanda (UR)/ College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (CAVM)/ Busogo Campus, P.O. Box, 210, Musanze, Rwanda. 2 Department of Veterinary Medicine, School of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Rwanda (UR)/ College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (CAVM)/ Busogo Campus, P.O. Box, 210, Musanze, Rwanda. Abstract A study was carried out on the practice of artificial insemination with the objective of the evaluation of its adoption in dairy cattle farmers in Kigali province in Rwanda. Structured questionnaires were administered from late June to early July 2013 to 69 farmers from Gasabo, Kicukiro and Nyarugenge districts, for this study. The majority of dairy farmers in this region possess crossbreeds and a few pure exotic breeds. Most of them judged the success of artificial insemination to be good well as others judged it to be very good. Furthermore, the respondents gave important reasons of the use of artificial insemination: milk production due to the highly improved breeds got through artificial insemination, reproductive diseases control and the accessibility of bull semen. Also, some constraints were pointed out: few inseminators, less availability and expensive sexed semen and high prices of artificial insemination services. Although artificial insemination services still have constraints, its acceptability is very high and its results are also averagely good. Keywords: Artificial insemination, dairy cattle, rate of success, Rwanda, adoption. Original Article Corresponding author: Department of Veterinary Medicine, School of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Rwanda (UR)/ College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (CAVM)/ Busogo Campus, P.O. Box, 210, Musanze, Rwanda. Received on: 21 Apr 2015 Revised on: 30 Apr 2015 Accepted on: 25 Jul 2016 Online Published on: 31 Jul J. Anim. Sci. Adv., 2016, 6(7):

3 ADOPTION OF ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION SERVICES IN Introduction Rwanda is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa with a population estimated at million and an average population density of 416 persons per km 2 (National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, 2012). Family farms are continuously sub-divided into increasingly smaller plots, fields are over cropped, marginal lands such as marshlands and pasturelands have been converted to arable lands. Milk production is the most important source of animal proteins for Rwandan population. Annual production is estimated at 401,672 liters of milk (MINAGRI, 2011). Consumption in Rwanda is liters per day (13 liters of milk per person per year) and 75% of that is consumed in rural areas (Rutamu, 2010). FAO recommends 220 liters of milk per person per year (Vétérinaire Sans Frontières, 2009). Cattle population in Rwanda includes 86% of local breeds, 13% crosses and 1% grade cattle. The target is to have 38%, 54% and 8% of the cattle population being local breeds, crosses and grade or pure breeds respectively by 2020 (Rutamu, 2010). That is why Rwandan Government initiated artificial insemination (AI), through Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) and Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB), as a genetic improvement technique. Artificial Insemination has begun in Rwanda with the National Center for Artificial Insemination (CNIA) established in Currently, the artificial insemination service operates within the Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB). The terminal objective of the AI program is to improve milk production through genetic improvement. The milk production program expects, through genetic improvement, to continue artificial insemination in order to increase the number of inseminated cows and better to understand the impact of AI on the productivity of local livestock. This is a job well organized, each actor has to work in optimal conditions for success and fulfill its role. To achieve this, a certain number of points should be strengthened or revised: improvement of farming conditions, education of farmers, training of AI technicians and Organization of IA. Many farms in Kigali province have involved themselves in the use of AI technique as a technology of animal improvement in order to increase milk production. Kigali is a case study where farmers are close to many resources such as RAB through the animal resources extension organization and Masaka bull semen production where almost all the advices and equipments can be got easily. If the impact of Artificial insemination services in Kigali province is understood, it will help in many dimensions such as knowing the rate at which this practice is improving the dairy cattle breeds, improving production of milk, and improving dairy cattle rearing systems from ancient to improved or modern systems which are efficient to the country as Rwanda. The overall objective of this study was to evaluate the adoption of artificial insemination services in dairy cattle in Kigali province in Rwanda. Specifically, it was to study: The acceptability of Artificial Insemination by farmers. The impact of Artificial Insemination on milk production. The constraints of Artificial Insemination (different factors which can influence the success rate of Artificial Insemination in Kigali province). Three hypotheses were formulated for this study: Artificial Insemination is not well accepted by farmers. There is no impact of Artificial Insemination on milk production. There are no constraints of Artificial Insemination in Kigali Province. Materials and Methods The study was conducted in Kigali City from June to October Kigali City consists of three districts: Gasabo with 15 sectors, Kicukiro with 10 sectors and Nyarugenge with 10 sectors. Farms, in Kigali City, practice two main systems of dairy production namely semi-intensive and intensive production systems. In these systems, artificial insemination is the main method used for reproduction J. Anim. Sci. Adv., 2016, 6(7):

4 KABERA ET AL. The study was conducted in 10 sectors out of 35 sectors of the whole city which were selected based on sectors with a high number of dairy cattle farmers and by simple random sampling technique. The importance was given to farmers who started artificial insemination practice in/or before After getting data from RAB, the selected sectors from the three districts are: Remera, Gatsata, Rusororo, Bumbogo, and Kacyiru in Gasabo district. Kanombe, Kagarama, and Niboye in Kicukiro district. Kanyinya and Kimisagara in Nyarugenge district. We further randomly sampled dairy farmers in each selected sector. Due to the number of farmers, we chose a sample of 15% (Johnson, 1959). The sample size from the three districts was 69 dairy farmers: 44 farmers in Gasabo district: Remera 7/43, Gatsata 3/21, Rusororo 11/72, Bumbogo 19/126, and Kacyiru 4/28 in Gasabo district. 17 farmers in Kicukiro district: Kanombe 8/50, Kagarama 7/45, and Niboye 2/16 in Kicukiro district. 8 farmers in Nyarugenge district: Kanyinya 7/44 and Kimisagara 1/7 in Nyarugenge district. Data was obtained through personal observations and interviews. All dairy cattle farmers were interviewed using structured questionnaires in late June 2013 to early July. The interviews were conducted face to face, in Kinyarwanda language by translating questionnaires from English. All the data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Frequencies were computed and analyzed for the following parameters; the Bovine breeds reared, their average milk production, production system, possession of production's files, feeding and nutrition, cattle housing, heat detection and heat signs, reasons why dairy cattle farmers prefer AI, factors that influence AI success, conception rates, calving intervals and constraints on which dairy cattle farmers are faced in practicing AI in their production. Results Over 95% of dairy cattle farmers were not able to explain clearly the conception rates, milk production, period between births and other concepts in a year to year picture. But they were able to elaborate all these concepts in an overview of since they started practicing AI services up to today. Over 94% of farmers practice intensive system while only 5.8% of farmers practice semi-intensive system. Over 94% of farmers do not have any type of production s files. Only 5% of dairy cattle farmers have production s files. These are production and immunization files. The farmers in this region possess cross breeds of Ankole-Friesian, Ankole-Jersey, few Ankole Sahiwal and very few pure breeds of Friesians and Jersey. Cross breeds on 75% produce an average of 16 liters of milk per day, cross breeds on more than 85% produce an average of 22 liters per day while pure exotic breeds produce an average of 30 liters of milk per day. However, more than 58% reported that milk production depends also on the way cows are fed. 100% of the dairy cattle farmers reported that they use improved rearing system (semi-intensive system). Over Seventy-nine percent of the farmers reported that their dairy cattle relied on cultivated forages (pennisetum purpureum spp) and concentrates especially for lactating cows. 18% of the dairy cattle farmers used forage, without concentrates. Only 1% farmers used for ages and concentrates as the principal feed for their dairy cattle. Over 97% of farmers have made their dairy cattle houses with wood and concrete floors. 3% of farmers have made their cattle houses with wood. 100% of dairy cattle farmers responded that they know how to detect heat. Over 84% of farmers reported that they use natural heat while only 1% practice induced heat. 14.5% of dairy cattle farmers involve both natural and induced heat in their rearing system. 90% of the dairy cattle farmers judged the success of AI to be good and 10% judged it to be very good. Many respondents raised to why they prefer AI to natural mating: production (30.4%), production and technical management (21.7%), technical management (20.3%), combination of production, technical management and health management (13.0%), health management (7.2%) and both 1687 J. Anim. Sci. Adv., 2016, 6(7):

5 ADOPTION OF ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION SERVICES IN technical and health management (7.2%). Furthermore, among the respondents, in relation to production, 97% of farmers mentioned milk as the main product of their farms. This is due to the highly improved breeds got through AI. Only 3% of farmers considered improved heifers as the main product of the farm due to the high income gain from their selling. In relation to breeding management, 61% of farmers reported that semen is far more accessible than looking for an improved bull. 29% of farmers reported that it is easy to manage insemination services in comparison to feeding and managing a bull. The farmers clearly indicated the main factors that are considered to affect the success of AI in their farms in different percentages: good heat detection (49.3%), cow inseminated (21.7%), quality of semen (15.9%), animal feeding (11.6%) and the potential of inseminators (1.4%). In analysis of the conception rates, dairy cows were categorized in groups according to the number of cows by farmer. Farmers with less number of cows (Categories 1 5 and 6 10) registered the highest percentage of cows which conceived at the first AI service; respectively 21.7% and 24.6% of inseminated cows. The conception rates of 14.5%, 13.0%, 8.7%, 5.8% and 3.8% of inseminated cows were respectively registered for farmers with 11 15, 16 20, 21 25, and more than 30 cows. 69.5% of dairy cattle farmers reported that the period between births is between 11 months 13 months, 29% of farmers reported that it is between months and only 1.5% of farmers reported more than 16 months. However all farmers noted out that these periods are always changing due to different constraints. Dairy cattle farmers ranked different constraints of the success of AI: few inseminators (36.2%), high costs of insemination services (23.2%), heat detection deficiency (14.5%), and high cost of sexed semen (13.0%), inseminators punctuality (7.2%) and ability of inseminators (5.8%). Discussion The finding that farmers in the region do not possess local breeds and possess far more cross breeds than exotic pure breeds could be attributed to the high milk yield of crossbreeds compared to local breeds (MINAGRI, 2006), and the requirements in terms of feeding and health management of crossbreeds in comparison of the exotic pure breeds (Murangira, 2005). The fact that over 94% of dairy cattle farmers do not have any type of production s files can be correlated to the lack of adequate advices from agencies in this field. Thus farmers kept ignorant about the importance of record keeping (Gietema, 2005). Record keeping is important for following individual cows cycles, birthing dates and missed breeding (Chatikobo, 2009). Though it was recorded that almost all farmers used cultivated forages, there are fluctuations in quality and quantity throughout the year due to land shortage and seasonal changes (MINAGRI, 2006). The availability of feed resources, both in quantity and quality, varies greatly throughout the year. Although feed availability depends to some extent on climatic conditions, particularly rainfall and the length of growing season, in most cases the feed situation becomes critical during the dry season. During this period, the poor pastures on which cattle result in inadequate feeding of stock. This has adverse implications on reproductive efficiency of cattle as feed nutrients become inadequate in supporting the potential yield levels (Butera and Rutagwenda, 2004). The fact that Napier grass scientifically known as pennisetum purpureum spp is the most provided grass to dairy cattle could be ascribed to its ability to grow well on terraces (MINAGRI, 2006). Napier grass is adapted to high (> 800mm per annum) rainfall and is tolerant to a wide variety of soils (Kitayi et al., 2005), conditions which are prevalent in Kigali region in Rwanda. Commercial concentrate are not readily available in Rwanda and usually more expensive (RARDA, 2008). That is the reason why a few farmers use them to feed their cows. Heat detection knowledge to farmers is very important for inseminators have to rely on the observations of the farmer or his stockmen, the latter must be encouraged to obtain the highest possible degree of efficiency in heat detection (Gietema, 2005). Errors in heat detection include inseminating cows not on heat, inseminating the 1688 J. Anim. Sci. Adv., 2016, 6(7):

6 KABERA ET AL. wrong cow, or inseminating too early or too late. These will seriously affect conception rates (Galloway and Perera, 2003). Accurate heat detection is necessary to maintain a 12-month calving interval, where at least 90% of cows should show standing heat within 60 days after parturition (i.e. 60 days after calving). Without good heat detection, many heats are missed and this causes longer calving intervals. A cow should be inseminated during the last part of the heat period, or within six to eight hours after the end of the heat. If inseminations take place in the beginning of the heat or too late after the end of the heat, conception rates decline (Gietema, 2005). Theoretically, the best time to inseminate is between 6 to 18 hours after detection of heat (Galloway and Perera, 2003). Only 1% of farmers practiced induced heat because this strategy of using hormones is more expensive compared to natural mating (Chatikobo, 2009). The finding that 90% of dairy cattle farmers judged the success of AI to be good is attributed to the numerous advantages they got from artificial insemination of their heifers and cows. Related to the genetic merit from the sire component is the fact that Heifers born of AI are genetically the best cattle in the herd, in comparison with those from natural mating. These AI-sired heifers provide more quality replacements and a greater opportunity to cull animals of lower genetic merit. AI heifer has a major impact on genetic improvement of the entire herd (Sulaiman, 1992). It also permits the farmer to select the ideal male to mate with each female on the farm (Chatikobo, 2009). Merchandising is another advantage for AI-sired heifers. If quality AI-sired replacements are available, then dairy producers can sell heifers based on genetic criteria (Sulaiman, 1992). AI enables farmers to reduce costs associated with not keeping males on the farms. Some small farms may only have three or four heads of cattle, and under such circumstances, A.I. can be several times cheaper than keeping a bull year-round for such small herds (Chatikobo, 2009). Further, bulls have the added disadvantage of spreading reproductive diseases such as brucellosis which causes infertility in cattle, more derailing the process of genetic change. A recent study by EADD shows that the prevalence of brucellosis in the project area in which Kigali was inclusive, ranges from 12-20%, average 9.75% (Chatikobo, 2009). The fact that the AI sires are examined and tested for reproductive soundness and disease, and that semen quality and fertility are routinely monitored are additional benefits (Sulaiman, 1992). Artificial Insemination (AI) breeding programs have long been recommended for dairy producers that raise heifers for herd replacements because of the proven genetic and economic advantages of using AI compared with using natural service bulls for breeding dairy cattle (Fricke, 1997). For AI to be successful the cow to be inseminated should be healthy, well fed, and in convenient shelter (Galloway and Perera, 2003). The inseminated cow influences the success rate by race, age, body condition score, number of lactations, physiological stage (puberty, postpartum, cyclicity, etc.). Some factors are related to farmers and breeding conditions (climate, hygiene level ). Inseminators should be well trained in order to improve the conception rates. Without well experienced inseminators, AI can be a failure. A common mistake for inseminators is to deposit semen in the cervix while withdrawing the pipette during AI (Zavy and Geisert, 1994). However, the few inseminators in the whole region of Kigali province have been given special trainings (RARDA, 2008). Semen should be handled with care in order not to kill the sperm by exposure to unfavorable environment (Chatikobo, 2009). The finding that over 50% of the farmers responded that their cows conceived at the first insemination shows that the conception rates in this region are really not bad. The percentage of cows conceiving at first insemination after calving is a measure for the reproductive performance of a herd; it is called conception rate after first insemination or service. In the tropics it seems to be very difficult to obtain a higher rate than 50 (Gietema, 2005). Due to a numerous constraints dairy cattle farmers face. In a healthy herd it may happen that conception rates do not decrease with repeated inseminations. So, from 2nd, 3rd and 4th inseminations also 50% may conceive (Gietema, 2005) J. Anim. Sci. Adv., 2016, 6(7):

7 ADOPTION OF ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION SERVICES IN The fact that 69.5% of farmers reported that their calving interval is between 11months 13months clearly indicates that farmers know the right calving intervals for a maximum reproduction performance. In order to obtain an average calving interval of 365 days, insemination (or service) should start as soon as possible after calving (Gietema, 2005). Although primary data shows that AI has raised the production and farmers honestly reported that they have significantly gained from AI, but still there are many serious constraints that are affecting the AI services in Kigali province. A simple example is the weakness of veterinary services delivery as a result of few cadres of service providers including; Veterinary Doctors, Assistants and Artificial Insemination technicians (Butera and Rutagwenda, 2004). Insemination services are to be re-organized to ensure that more inseminators are trained and equipments for insemination are bought (RARDA, 2008). Sexed semen are available in Rwanda, as mentioned by farmers, but not easily accessible. Few farmers that have used this semen cited out that it has come in the right time, regarding losses that have been brought by cows giving birth to males. However, its higher cost per dose of semen, combined with a reduced conception risk, it s a serious constraint (Anonymous, 2008). Farmers further pointed out the constraint of the punctuality of inseminators, this leading to a big number of cows having long intervals of calving thus lowering the production both in number of calves and milk production. This constraint can be attributed to the fact that inseminators in this region combine veterinary services, animal husbandry advisory work as well as insemination services (Gietema, 2005). Conclusion All the farmers appreciated and judged artificial insemination technique to be good due to obvious advantages it gives if practiced efficiently. These advantages, as they were reported out, are higher average daily of milk due to high production capacity of cows got through AI and more opportunities for improving the herd. However, farmers pointed out some constraints that are hindering them to achieve higher production than what they are getting. The main constraints are such as few inseminators, less availability and expensive sexed semen and high prices of artificial insemination services in the region. Although artificial insemination services have constraints as it was mentioned by farmers in Kigali city, its acceptability is very high and its results are also averagely good. At the end of this work, the following recommendations were addressed to the government and private sector: the government should introduce a technical training school to train people who are only specialized in reproduction performance including artificial insemination services. It would lead to specialized inseminators who will be working full time at cell level and possibly at the village (umudugudu) level, the government should find a way of further subsidizing of sexed semen to make it accessible to the farmers, subsides for commercial concentrates should be provided to dairy producer to improve their availability to farmers, the private sector should be encouraged to join and invest in developing the sub-sector of animal production. Acknowledgments Authors are grateful to the University of Rwanda, College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine for a logistic facilitation and the technical support rendered by livestock officers of districts in Kigali City. References Anonymous (2008). They use sexed semen (57 th Hoard s dairyman round table). Hoard s Dairyman, January 25, pp. 56. Butera JB, Rutagwenda T (2004). Animal production subsector, Final Rep., pp Chatikobo P (2009). Artificial insemination in Rwanda, Dairy Mail Afr. (DMA), pp Fricke PM (1997). Bulls are no bargain. Hoard's Dairyman, December, p Galloway D, Perera O (2003). Guidelines and Recommendations for Improving Artificial Breeding of Cattle in Africa. Gietema B (2005). Modern dairy farming in warm climate zones, Vol. 3, First Ed J. Anim. Sci. Adv., 2016, 6(7):

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