Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Yar Muhammad Rind on Tuesday said that the breeders and farmers must be made aware of the possibilities and benefits of enhanced productivity.
He said our services should be in the right way to actively facilitate and outreach the farmers.
He stated this while speaking a launching ceremony of "Strengthening of Livestock Services" in collaboration with European Commission.
Agriculture minister said the government is fully aware of the limiting factors in the livestock sector and we have fragmented pattern of small size of land holdings, low genetic potential of traditional livestock, limitations of food supply, deficient marketing infrastructure and low purchasing power of the consumer.
He said the threat of diseases affecting our livestock and particularly those communicable to man loom very large on the horizon, adding, the importance of effective systems to detect, diagnose and eliminate such threats is fairly evident to policy makers.
The government policies and strategies should be issue-oriented and we should be fully supportive of the livestock breeders. We must lend them all help in their endeavours, he added.
He said the development of livestock sector is yet to realise its full potential for job creation, meeting the food requirements and taking very active part in export drive in an expanding global world.
Rural poverty is still a major issue in Pakistan and agricultural growth, in which livestock is one of the key sectors, he said, needs to be addressed.
Rind appreciated the support by the European Union for this important project in livestock sector and said the design, scope and duration of this project offers a unique opportunity to the sector and we all need to make best use of it.
He urged upon the ministry, all the provincial governments and the executing agencies to make best use of this project and get the desired results to help the small-scale farmers.
Earlier Ilkka Uusitalo, head of the delegation of the European Commission to Pakistan said the European Parliament has ratified the much-awaited third generation co-operation agreement with the government of Pakistan.
Now with the ratification of this third generation agreement, more avenues of co-operation would open up between the EU and the government of Pakistan in the fields of trade, economy, social development and poverty reduction, he added.
This agreement, he said, will provide us with a structure and institutionalised framework for dialogue in all areas of co-operation.
He said this is also in line with our increased high level political dialogue and the political will expressed by the EU to strengthen our relations with Pakistan as an important partner both bilaterally as well as in regional concepts.
He said the European Commission is one of the largest grant aid donors to Pakistan and our current grant aid portfolio stands at about 230 million Euro, which is equivalent to Rs 16 billion, and which I am sure would increase in the years to come.
Ilkka Uusitalo said the prime objective of our support to the people of Pakistan is poverty reduction and assisting the government of Pakistan to increase its integration into the world's economy.
Other key areas of our co-operation between the government of Pakistan and the European Commission relates to the human development in the education sector, eradication of child labour, support towards financial sector reform and micro-finance, rural development, environment, support to livestock services and the promotion of democracy and human rights, he added.
He said this project on "the strengthening of livestock services" has been formulated in order to address these constraints of trade in livestock products and improve the condition of livestock in Pakistan.
The value of our contribution to this project is 22.9 million Euro, which is equivalent to Rs 1.6 billion and is the most important project in the livestock sector for the EU in Asia, he added.
European Commission's representative said the overall objective of this project is to assist the government of Pakistan to maximise the potential of the livestock sector, which now stands at 46 million bovines and 75 million small ruminants. The project intends to improve farmers' livelihoods through better provision of livestock services, especially of disease control, and thereby enhancing productivity.
The project will target the problems of animal disease control by looking especially at the final eradication of Rinderpest and the conception of a progressive strategy to address the problem of foot and mouth disease, the control of which is essential for the export of animal and animal products and by addressing other key diseases.
Earlier Secretary Food and Agriculture Tariq Mahmood and Commissioner Livestock Rafaqat Hussain Raja spoke on the occasion and highlighted the salient features of the project.