Abstract:
Dairy cattle breeding is a long-term process of selection and mating of cattle. Sri Lanka has a
well-defined comprehensive and legalized Dairy Cattle Breeding Policy (CBP). Artificial
Insemination (AI) is the primary tool that use to implement the dairy cattle breeding programme.
However, typically cattle breeding is just a mating focusing only on the immediate progeny and
there is a distinct gap between the scientific recommendations of CBP and the implementation
at the farmers’ level. Hence this study was conducted to identify the implementation gap of the
policy recommendations. The data were collected via pre-tested questionnaires from clusterbased
purposively selected 103 Livestock Development Instructors(LDIs) representing all the
agro-climatic zones. The degree of following of CBP was analyzed with a Mean score index
and Kruskal-Wallis test, which was applied to test whether there is any significant difference in
the level of the above score by provinces. Chi-squared test was used to find out whether there
is significant associations between the degree of following up the policy and the profile factors
of LDIs. The majority of the LDIs (97%) were aware of the CBP. 57% and 34% of LDIs have
recommended the CBP(2010) without any change and with minor amendments respectively.
The majority of the LDIs (96%) conduct dairy cattle breeding following a specific breeding
plan. The Central Province has shown a significantly higher level of following the CBP (P <
0.05) while it was least in Eastern Province. Moreover, gender and age of LDIs are associated
with the degree of following the CBP (P < 0.05). Semen of some of the recommended breeds
such as Ayrshire and Sahiwal were not available at the field level and 75% of LDIs intensively
use Girolando semen without official recommendations due to its popularity and unavailability
of some recommended semen types. In conclusion, the existing CBP(2010) has been
recommended by the LDIs as a comprehensive guideline for local dairy development. but there
is a distinct implementation gap in the policy recommendations and it must be addressed by the
relevant authorities for a successful CBP at the farmers’ level.
