Semarang, ANTARA JATENG - Central Java has been self- sufficient in beef supply and recorded strong growth in livestock population over the past several years, the animal husbandry office has said.

"Among the livestock with significant increase in population include beef cows, milch cows, buffaloes, goats, and sheep," head of the provincial animal husbandry office Agus Wariyanto said here on Friday.

Agus said from 2013 to 2016, the population of beef cows grew 60,790 every year, milch cow population rose 11,213, that of buffaloes grew 1,494, goat 60,657, sheep 31,715 per year in the same period.

He said based on official data by the end of 2016, the population of beef cows in Central Java reached 1.68 million, that of milch cows 137,434, buffaloes 66,500, goats 4.10 million, and sheep 2.36 million.

Agus said beef cows, the most important for human consumption among the livestock, are raised in a number of areas in the province.

Five main breeding places for beef cows are the regencies of Blora having 211,000 cows, Grobogan 178,000 , Wonogiri 157,000, Rembang 128,000 and Pati 89,000 cows.

"With that population and monthly beef requirement averaging 17,392 cows, we don`t need to bring in beef from other regions," he said.

He said so far the price of beef has been under control and stable at around Rp100,000 per kilogram for best quality beef in Central Java.

Until now the country still heavily been dependent on imports for beef cows. The country has imported beef cows mainly from Australia. ***3*** (AS)







(U.SYS/A/H-ASG/A014) 07-04-2017 15:14:36