Punjab Livestock and Dairy Development Department, on the special directive of Chief Minister Punjab has devised "breed improvement plan" for nucleus stud stocks and insemination of improved germ-plasm through artificial insemination and production extension programme.
In an exclusive interview with APP here on Sunday, Minister for Livestock and Dairy Development Punjab, Syed Haroon Ahmad Sultan said that according to international standard, the requirements per capita daily Animal Protein Food (APF) is 27.40 grams in the world whereas it is about 20.00 grams in Pakistan, 7.40 grams less than the standard. He said that all-out efforts were being made to meet APF shortage in Pakistan.
About the breeding, he said that department arranges the supply of superior germplasm to artificial insemination (Al) Centres for up-gradation of local livestock through 148 Al centres, 572 Al sub-centre and 4 semen production units.
He said for this purpose, at least 321 bulls were being maintained at these centres. He said that regular study on reproductive physiology of cattle and buffaloes and identification of genital defects was also being conducted to further improve the production of progeny tested bulls.
The Minister said that another Veterinary Research Institute, Lahore is producing the sera/vaccines for livestock and poultry. Disease diagnosis and investigation is another main function of this institute.
He said that three research institutes are conducting applied and farmers' problem-oriented research in various disciplines.
One of the Livestock Production Research Institute, Okara is engaged in conducting applied research on the livestock production for increasing milk and meet output in the country.
Syed Haroon Ahmad Sultan said that the research institute at Lahore had produced 91.74 million doses of various biologic for use within the country and also for export to other countries.
He said that this institute is helping in improving productivity of village poultry and dissemination of latest technology related training facilities to field workers and farmers.
He said that two independent projects are providing extension services to livestock farmers in the province.
One of them is Punjab Small Holder Dairy Development Project covering 720 villages of six tehsil in Gujranwala division is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
He said that this project targets the poor rural households including both landless and farm households which either do not have or have only one or two productive dairy animals.
Its main objectives are improvement of marketing system and adaptive research programmes and strengthening of livestock extension services.
The minister said that the second project is being executed in the 10 selected districts of the province which were identified as the intensive livestock producing areas by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) survey team.
He said that farmers and breeders were being motivated for better livestock production and knowledge is also being imparted to them on breeding, feeding, fodder, economics of livestock and health control to help earn more and more profit.
Syed Haroon said that province of the Punjab always contributed its lion share towards the livestock population of the country.
About the export of animals, he said that 376 cattle, 24 beetle goats and 308 bulls were exported to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh during the year 1989 to 1993 and earned foreign exchange of 770,200 dollars.
He said that poultry research institutes have been set up in different parts of the province for research on poultry breeding, nutrition and housing etc.
He said that ADBP and other commercial banks advance credits to livestock breeders in private sector. He said that more than 7.75 lakh cows/buffaloes were provided last year in the province.
He said that 6.30 million hides and 39.2 million skins are produced annually.