The export of donkeys to China has not yet been materialised due to delay in submitting required documents by the investors and companies. The livestock department officials told this scribe that many Chinese companies had evinced their keen interest in establishment of donkey farms and their exports but the KP government had planned to deal only with state-owned companies or state-owned investor in china.
The government would provide all legal and technical support to the investors. The MoU was terminated due to ineligibility of the investor to produce the required documentations. The officials said that Chinese companies also expressed their interest in the exports of donkeys. They were asked to present the required documents in this regard. However, they responded that they would submit the documents after Chinese New Year celebrations at the end of February.
Pakistan, which has the third largest donkey population in the world, will export the animal to China, opening the avenue to earn millions from the trade, said the officials concerned. During the first three years, the government plans to export as many as 80,000 donkeys to china.
The project titled: 'Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa-China Sustainable Donkey Development Programme' is expected to bring Rs 1 billion. It is aimed at attracting Chinese investment in Pakistan's livestock and agriculture sector. Main purpose of the plan is to prevent illegal smuggling of donkeys to foreign countries, because the donkeys are used for medicines and meat consumption in china.
The proposed project will help improve the socio-economic status of donkey-rearing communities and also improve the health and production of local donkeys. An official said that new technologies would also be introduced. Work on capacity-building of donkey breeders and services they provide would also be done. The official said they were only dealing with state-owned companies because if started on commercial basis it would be a possible threat to extinction of the donkey species.
The officials said that the government had planned to establish two donkey farms initially in DI Khan and Mansehra districts. The KP livestock department would focus on building donkey farms in order to breed donkeys to increase its population.
Around 70,000 people use donkeys as working animals in KP province. During PML-N government, Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) led by then-Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had placed a temporary ban on the export of donkey hides, after the customs in Karachi seized 35,000 skins of donkeys destined to china.
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