Nigerians have expressed mixed reactions following a contract to buy five cows for N9.2 million awarded by the Kano state government.

According to the state, the bulls are rare breeds and are being bought for mass insemination.

The recently awarded contract, by the Kano State Agro-Pastoral Development Project (KSADP) for the supply of five pure breeds of Friesian bulls to boost animal insemination at Kadawa Insemination Center, is to cost N9.2 million.

The project Coordinator, Ibrahim Garba-Muhammad, made this known in a statement released by the project Communication Specialist, Ameen Yassar on Friday in Kano, NAN reports.

The project launched by KSADP is supported by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB)

The Insemination center is located at Garun-Malam Local government area of the state.

According to Garba-Muhammad, the contract was awarded to Hamjik Agric Plus Limited.

He said: “Friesian cattle produce large quantity of milk and their male calves can also be fattened to produce good quality beef.

“You may be aware that Kano has two Animal Insemination Centres, one in Kadawa and the other one in Makoda.

“Our project will equip and operationalize the one at Kadawa to enable it to inseminate 25,000 cows per annum, beginning from this year.

That is why we are providing the bulls”.

He explained that Artificial Insemination (AI) was an Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) used globally to deposit or store semen directly into a cow or heifer’s uterus.

The coordinator noted that it has several advantages over natural mating, which included reducing sexually transmitted diseases among cattle and improving genetic quality of livestock.

“This initiative is part of the project’s objective to contribute to improving food and nutrition security as well as reducing poverty in the state,” he said.

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