Sindh Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Jam Khan Shoro on Saturday said the Sindh government is fully committed to facilitating agriculture, livestock, dairy, fisheries and other allied sectors as 70 percent of the population in the province is dependent on these sectors.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of fourth Livestock, Dairy, Fisheries, Poultry, Agriculture and Culture Exhibition (LDFA-2014) at Expo Centre here, Shoro said Sindh has immense untapped potential in these sectors which can not only fulfil our local demand but also help us earn foreign exchange. He said Sindh government was expecting to attract over Rs 1 billion investment through LDFA-2014.
Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah was scheduled to inaugurate the exhibition but due to some high level meetings, he could not come to open the fair. Uncertain situation of the city put the Sindh Board of Investment (SBI) in a state of confusion in organising this mega event. Resultantly, LDFA-2014 lacked the spirit and the enthusiasm witnessed in past three exhibitions.
Despite claiming to have doubled the number of stalls to 500 in LDFA-2014, exhibitors failed to make special arrangements to attract visitors. In the last exhibitions, exhibitors had displayed milk processing plant and some other processing units related to agriculture but this time they are grabbing the attention of the masses through 'leaflets' only.
Some of the exhibitors told BR the SBI had finalised the arrangements of this mega event just a couple of days ago. Therefore, the exhibitors did not have enough time to participate in this event with full spirit. Similarly, the display area of livestock is not impressive as only a few big livestock vendors have put up their stalls. This exhibition is jointly supervised by departments of agriculture and department of livestock, dairy and fisheries. However, minister for agriculture Nawaz Ali Mahar was not present in this mega event.
According to a statement issued by the LDFA-2014 organisers, a seminar "Sustaining Economic Growth by Value Addition and Value Chain in Livestock, Dairy, Fisheries, Poultry and Agriculture Products" was organised and the experts from industries shared their expertise and guidance with the investors include feed manufacturers, vet services and vaccination, cold chain and packaging companies, slaughter-houses/abattoirs/embryo transfer technology, certification bodies and regulatory authorities, farm construction and equipment companies. In addition, the flower & bird show, horse and cattle show and dog and pet show were the key events on the opening day of the exhibition. Horse and cattle competition will be held on 2nd day of the exhibition.
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