FAO/Ahmad Abdulmannan

By September 2024, farmers across Syria will be celebrating a new, high-quality calving to support and sustain their animal production and importantly, their income. As part of the Building Local Resilience in Syria (BLRS) project, funded by UK Aid, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched a campaign to deliver animal health and artificial insemination services in the governorates of Aleppo, Deir-ez-Zor, Hama, Homs and Rural Damascus.

The campaign is targeting 24 000 livestock keepers to enhance the health and nutrition conditions of farmers’ cows and sheep. Furthermore, the campaign is in the process of inseminating cows with genetically superior semen straws that ensure high pregnancy rates and reduce the time between pregnancies, which is crucial for productivity.

Comprehensive support

FAO integrates a comprehensive set of interventions to increase livestock productivity, while minimizing costs and assisting vulnerable livestock keepers to become more resilient and self-reliant. As such, the Organization is targeting farmer field school (FFS) participants among its beneficiaries with artificial insemination services and animal health services. The FFS participants have already received valuable information about good agriculture practices (GAP) and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices on fodder production, livestock housing, dairy processing and marketing skills.

The animal health services campaign includes health check-ups and treatment for sub-clinical mastitis, ovarian health, anti-parasitic treatment, udder infection prevention through disinfection, checking the body condition score and the nutritional status of the animal and providing either vitamins or advice on fodder mixtures depending on the result. This is particularly important as it supplements the missing dietary elements that are lacking during the winter season.

Sensitive timing

“If a cow does not give birth to a new calf, its milk production stops,” says Mohsen Al-Hasan, one of the campaign’s beneficiaries from Hawrat Ammourin in rural Hama, Syria. “A cow is only productive for seven or eight months, after that the milk production stops, while the cow continues to consume costly fodder without being productive,” he continues.

Mohsen, who benefited from FAO’s integrated farmer field school activity, says that milk production will help him provide nutritious dairy products for his family, and support the household’s income and nutrition status: “Every day is a financial challenge. So instead of selling the milk to the middleman for a lower price, I can make dairy products for the household or for sale.”

Almaza Junaid, also a beneficiary of artificial insemination and FFS from Ain Alkorum in rural Hama, is happy to see that her cow has become pregnant on the first attempt as this will bear positive effects for her family. “When my cow was ready for artificial insemination, I called the vet who responded immediately to perform the insemination operation,” she says. “I have five children and they all love milk and dairy products. The main priority is to cover my family’s needs for dairy products and nutrition; I then sell the extra to cover my family’s expenses,” she adds.

Robust country-wide capacities

The campaign has trained 64 certified community-based veterinarians to offer animal health services and perform artificial insemination across Syria. FAO has provided theoretical and practical training about the anatomy and physiology of cows, as well as up-to-date information about the cows’ estrous cycle management, and the storage, transportation and preparation of semen straws for an effective and efficient insemination process. This information will support veterinarians to achieve better success rates, which will have a positive impact on livestock keepers’ productivity, income and resilience.

FAO’s campaign complements the inter-linked interventions implemented under the BLRS project to guarantee the maximum benefit and greatest value for money to every household. The BLRS project targets an overall of 54 600 farming households with a priority for women, youth, and persons with disabilities. It aims to help vulnerable farming communities in Syria to boost their production, so that they become resilient to shocks, and improve their food and nutrition security conditions and self-reliance, as well as promote gender equality and the prevent economic violence and early marriage in targeted rural communities.