T

he population of buffalo (Buballus buballis) in Yogyakarta province is decreasing year after year despite the superiority that the animals offer in terms of meat and dairy products.

Data at the provincial Agriculture Agency shows that there were 4,990 buffalos in the province in 2006 before decreasing to only 1,208 in 2011.

The figure was far below the population of cows, which reached over 375,000 as of June 2011.

“This has happened not only here but also across Indonesia,” buffalo researcher Tridjoko Wisnu Murti of Gadjah Mada University’s School of Husbandry told The Jakarta Post, earlier this week.

He said that of the five regencies in the province, Sleman regency recorded the highest buffalo population of 678. The lowest population was found in Yogyakarta municipality, with only six.

According to Tridjoko, nationally the figure had decreased from 3.5 million to 1.3 million for the same period. This, he said, raised concern, especially at the time when the need for meat consumption in the country had been significantly increasing.

“Unfortunately, the government prefers importing cows to breeding buffalos,” he said, adding that Indonesia had an abundant population of the animal in the early 20th century.

He blamed the condition on the lack of the government’s attention to the animal despite what it offered.

Tridjoko, who is also a nutritionist and an expert in dairy technology, said that in terms of quality, buffalo meat was better than cow because the former contained less fat.

Reports said that not only did the buffalo have 70 to 90 percent less fat compared to beef, it also had 50 percent less cholesterol. And on top of that, it was higher in protein, iron and all omega and amino acids.

“The nutrition value of 5 liters of buffalo milk equals to that of 10 liters of cow milk,” Tridjoko said.

Other factors blamed for the decrease in the buffalo population include the use of motorized tractors instead of buffalo-ridden ploughs to cultivate rice fields and increasing consumption of buffalo meat, especially among coastal communities.

Tridjoko expressed concern that if nothing was done by the government to increase the population, buffalos faced extinction in Indonesia.

By growing buffalos the government would be implementing pro-poor, pro-growth, pro-health, pro-job and pro-environment policies, he said.

Buffalos are said to be able to adapt easily to the environment and easy to feed because they can eat agricultural waste while cows require complicated food supplies.