Gov't moves to boost cattle production as demand and prices rise

Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Timothy Tumukon, said the growing demand for beef is putting pressure on supply and contributing to higher prices in the local market.

He said the ministry’s will revive cattle farming on key islands through its ‘Island Focus’ initiative. He identified Santo, Maewo, Malekula, Efate, and Erromango as some major areas of focus.

The ministry plans to work directly with committed farmers in these areas to increase livestock numbers.

He said the government is still assessing current livestock numbers using data from the 2022 national census before setting long-term production targets.

“We haven’t made a target during the last year’s forum, but we want to see the census in 2022 count how many cattle, then we can put a plan to rehabilitate the farms, bigger farms or even the smallholder farmers to increase their production,” he said.

As part of the initiative, the ministry is planning to establish an artificial insemination centre in Santo to help improve breeding and expand cattle populations.

“One of the things that we want to do in the ministry is to establish an artificial insemination centre in Santo to use semen of cattle so that we can transfer them to the islands that need it,” he said.

The approach is expected to replace the traditional method of moving cattle between islands, which officials say is costly and ineffective.

“To increase the production we will discourage the movement of cattle like it’s been done in the past. First, it’s hard to move cattle from one place to another, it’s expensive, and its just relocation of cattle — it does not really increase the number,” Tumukon said.

Instead, the ministry plans to adopt methods that will directly grow herd numbers, including introducing new cattle breeds from overseas and improving farm conditions.

“Also improve pasture, fencing and water — those are essential to increase the population of livestock in a farm. You need good pasture, good water and good fencing so that animals can stay in a place where they have food and water,” he said.

Tumukon added that the government is also encouraging the expansion of smaller livestock such as poultry, pigs and goats to ease pressure on the beef sector.

“This is not just with cattle only but also with poultry, piggery and goats, because when we don’t strengthen the small livestock that puts a lot of pressure on cattle production,” he said.