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Rwanda is to receive 170 pregnant Jersey heifers later in June, in a bid to improve food security and boost incomes through milk production.
A US-based NGO, Heifer Project International (HPI), in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture sent the first shipment of 85 cows on 7 June, the US embassy in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, reported. The second shipment of 85 will be on 28 June.
The embassy said the donation was part of a US $2.4-million HPI-US Agency for International Development-funded programme, under which about 500 head of dairy cattle would be transported to Byumba, central Rwanda; and Ruhengeri, in the northwest. The cattle would enhance the Rwandan government's crossbreeding programme to increase milk production, the embassy reported.
In 2001, 88 pregnant Jersey heifers were transported from South Africa to Byumba, where they were distributed among small-scale dairy farmers. The cows produced an average of 15-20 litres of milk per day, thereby raising the income of each local farmer by about $11 per day, the embassy said.
In addition to the donation of cows, HPI has been providing Rwanda with technical aid for fodder cultivation, water conservation, and cowshed design.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
