Demand driven policies will be formulated in consultation with the stakeholders to develop livestock sector on modern scientific lines, said provincial secretary livestock Mohammad Athar Tahir.
Addressing the second Kissan convention at University of Agriculture Faisalabad here on Saturday, he said that on the directive of Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, a close liaison and rapport has been established with the stakeholders to know about their problems in its true perspective and seek their guidance in resolving the same within the given circumstances.
He said that livestock was an integral part of our agriculture sector which is contributing a substantial share in our GDP.
He said that Pakistan was fifth largest milk producing country in the world but its cattle owners are not fully compensated.
He said that on the directive of CM four districts have been declared livestock zones where all modern facilities would be ensured to the cattle owners including the facility of artificial insemination at the grass-roots level.
He said that in view of the importance of livestock a separate university has been established to conduct research on our domestic as well as foreign animals and birds.
He said that Pakistan has high yielding milch animals but we failed to preserve its genetic traits.
He said that chicken was reared by our farm women as an additional source of income. Its rearing at large scale has not only helped us to meet our food requirements but also played an important role in making it a profitable industry.
He said that instead of protecting and promoting our domestic hen, we continued to concentrate on imported birds. However, now a proposal was under consideration to introduce other local birds like duck and Turkey as an alternate source of white meat in addition to conducting research on our native hen.
He underlined the importance of fancy birds and said that we could earn and substantial foreign exchange by exporting exotic species of birds.
Supporting co-operative system for the expeditious development of small farmers, he quoted the example of Halla and said that few animal owners started collecting and marketing milk which has now become a profitable business for them.
He said that government was encouraging co-operative societies in other parts of the province to follow the example of Halla.
He said that National Horse and Cattle show is also being revived after a gap of 8 years. It is actually a marketing event and provides cattle breeders to market their animals and earn profit out of it.
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