Identification of Gaps between Existing Cattle Breeding Policy and Its Implementation in Mymensingh District

Present study was conducted to identify the gaps between the existing cattle breeding policy and its implementation in Mymensingh district through a survey. A total of 120 farmers were surveyed covering 5 Upazilla of Mymensingh distrinct (Muktagacha, Trishal, Gouripur, Nandail and Ishwarganj). It was found that indigenous cattle genotype, Holstein Friesian and Sahiwal crosses were 47%, 25% and 21%, respectively in the study areas. Found that, 57% semen straws followed breeding policy that was supplied from DLS in Gouripur whereas it’s 51%, 67%, 43%, and 50% in Muktagacha, Nandail, Trishal and Ishwargonj respectively. On the other hand, only 23% and 27% cattle (dairy and beef type respectively) inseminated followed the existing breeding policy to some extent. Survey revealed that, most of the farmers have to face challenges on several aspects, such as lack of capital, inadequate availability of inputs, inadequate training, inadequate institutional credit, guaranteed and profitable markets for output, semen crisis, heat detection failure, disease control etc. Moreover, artificial insemination implementation agencies are not concerned about the government breeding policy till now. The results of the study indicated that choices of semen by farmers were 13% for beef cattle/meat production, 39% for milk purpose and 48% for both meat and milking purpose. Actually, identifying the actual field scenario could identify the actual gaps with appropriate solutions which is a prerequisite for breeding research and livestock development of a country. Consequently, this study will definitely assist in materializing and developing existing cattle breeding policy of Bangladesh. Keywords: Cattle breeding policy, Gaps, Mymensingh district, Breed development [J Bangladesh Agril Univ 2021; 19(2.000): 230-237]