A livestock breeding project on Buffalo’s gene conservation implemented through FAO’s technical assistance in West Azerbaijan 30 years ago still remains functional, benefiting not only the local livestock businesses in the Province but also supporting Buffalo’s cattle breeding in six other regions of the country.

Visiting West Azerbaijan Province’s agricultural sector, Mr Gerold Bödeker, FAO Representative to the Islamic Republic of Iran pays a visit to Jabal’s Buffalo Gene Bank in south of Urmia, observing the ongoing activities running in the different parts of the facility - including the laboratory and divided stables for the calves, females, and males buffalos. FAO Representative to Iran was also briefed on the current situation and future plans of the centre. 

The laboratory of this breeding centre equipped with experienced technicians – whose leading staff were trained by FAO three decades ago - enabled the gene bank to produce more than 20 thousands doses of buffalo sperm annually; a delivery which significantly contributes to improving the performance of the buffalos raised by farmers in different parts of the country.  As the head of the facility stated, “the quality of the sperm produced [there] outperform the imported foreign samples.”

Selected breeding is another important outcome of this gene bank. Keeping exceptional local and foreign originated breeds of buffalos, the centre continuously works on breeding the more economically feasible calves of buffalo.

All these long-standing achievements are based on the joint efforts of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and FAO initiated in the early 1990 to further improve the food and nutrition security of the country.