REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BOGOR -- Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman asks the Cattle Embryo Center (BET) in the regency of Bogor, West Java, to produce 1,000 Belgian Blue cattle, a breed of beef cattle.
"We will provide Rp20 billion to breed Belgian Blue cattle," Amran said on the sidelines of his visit to BET in Cipelang in the regency of Bogor on Friday.
The minister said if BET could turn out 1,000 Belgian blue cattle in a year, the ministry would provide Rp100 billion for the same purpose in the following year.
"I believe it could. Now we already produced 1.4 million cows through artificial insemination. This year the target is 3 million births," he said.
He said he appreciated the success of BET in producing Belgian blue cattle through technology of embryo transfer and artificial insemination, adding the success give rise to hope for realization of self sufficiency in beef supply in Indonesia.
"We make it by phases. Rice, corn and soybean are no longer imported. We hope we could do it with cows," he said.
Head of the Embryo Production Section, Dr Muhammad Imron said he was optimistic with what the minister said about producing 1,000 Belgian Blue cattle.
Imron said special preparation, however is needed as the Belgian Blue cattle is an exotic species and the donor cows of Belgian Blue is especially heavy.
The artificial insemination uses the semen of Belgian Blue cow and the mother cows are local species of Limusin, he said.
The plan is cross breeding would be made between the cows produced from the artificial insemination and Belgian Blue cows, to turn out Indonesianca Belgian Blue cattle with 75 percent genetically, he said.
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