Kampala — THE Government has lifted the ban on the importation of semen from countries with no record of mad cow disease. Animal industry state minister Maj. Bright Rwamirama said they had also allowed the selective importation of livestock from such countries.

He also revealed that the machine for producing liquid nitrogen at Entebbe Artificial Breeding Centre was being rehabilitated.

"We are also working with Heifer International-Uganda to set up another plant in western region."

The minister was last week speaking during celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of a charity, Send-A-Cow Uganda, at Lira mayor's gardens.

"Send-A-Cow's intervention fits well in the Government's development plans," he said.

Send-A-Cow was founded in 1988 in response to an appeal by then Church of Uganda Archbishop, Dr. Mpalanyi Nkoyooyo, to farmers in the UK to help combat poverty, which had escalated due to civil strife in the 1970s and 1980s.