REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MATARAM -- The government of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) will gradually reduce the dispatch of cows for slaughter to other provinces beginning this year, according to an animal husbandry official.

"Beginning this year, we will reduce the transfer of cows to other provinces for slaughter," Head of Mataram's Animal Husbandry and Health Service Budi Septian said here on Friday.

He noted that NTB's new policy in an effort to maintain the number of cow population in the province and increase the sales value of animals there.

If living cows are dispatched, it will not give added values to local cattle farmers, he added.

NTB has also stopped sending calves to a number of provinces in Indonesia as the local government wants to focus on the development and feedlot of cows.

Moreover, Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman has chosen NTB and provinces such as East Java, South Sulawesi, and Bali for developing cow pedigrees.

Meanwhile, the Agriculture Minister has been working to make Indonesia self-sufficient in beef production by developing cow breeding centers in three eastern provinces.

"I have a dream of making Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, and West Nusa Tenggara the major beef suppliers for the Asian region," the minister stated during a working visit to Cemagi village, Mengwi subdistrict, Badung District, Bali, on Friday.

He remarked that the government has provided frozen sperm of Limousin cows to carry out his plan.

Limousin cows are slaughtered after two years when they weigh 600 kilograms.

Badung District Head Anak Agung Gde Agung observed that the regional government has developed a cow breeding center for Bali cows in Sobangan village, Ngawi subdistrict.

Earlier, the government had set a target to make Indonesia self-sufficient in beef production by 2014.

However, due to declining cattle population, Indonesia, which consumes about 550 thousand tons of meat per year, could not meet the target.

Earlier, the government, through the Directorate General of Animal Husbandry, had set a target that by 2014, Indonesia would produce enough meat to meet its domestic needs.

However, Indonesia's cattle population in 2013 was lower than that in 2012, which stood at 16.4 million. As of October 2013, the cattle population fell to 14.2 million.

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