• 100 high-quality goats imported at Rs. 34.98 m
• Only 29 goats survive, 31 die; loss of Rs. 11.5 m

Sri Lanka has incurred losses amounting to millions of rupees due to yet another failed project to revive the country’s livestock sector. 

The objective was to breed high-quality goats and distribute them to local farmers and farms.

As revealed by the National Audit Office (NAO) in its latest audit report issued on the Department of Animal Production and Health, the department had imported 100 goats, including 10 male goats and 90 female goats of the Boer type, from Australia in April 2019 at a significant cost of Rs. 34,983,630, amounting to Rs. 349,836.30 per goat.

However, due to challenges in adapting to the local environment, only 29 of the imported goats had survived by the end of 2019. 

A total of 31 goats, including six males and 25 females, worth Rs. 11,532,938, had died by October 2022, it is revealed.

The NAO has stated that despite efforts to introduce these high-quality goats into the local farming system, the project had failed to achieve its intended goals.

As per the NAO, the death toll, largely attributed to environmental adaptation issues and lingering diseases, highlights the importance of assessing the survival capacity of such animals before importing them.

It was also revealed that the animals had been imported without assessing the suitable traditional sensitive survival level of such animals on farms.

The NAO has recommended that animals should be imported after assessing their suitable traditional sensitive survival level.

Attempts to contact Department of Animal Production Director General Dr. K.A.C.H.A. Kothalawala regarding the project’s failure and the incurred losses were futile.