The Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, while assuring his full support to the poultry sector, has directed his Adviser on Finance Dr Salman Shah, to convene a meeting of Poultry Association as early as possible and seek their proposals regarding various issues facing this sector with particular reference of price-hike galore.
The Prime Minister gave this assurance, while talking to LCCI executive member and former chairman of the Punjab Zone of the Association, Abdul Basit, during LCCI office-bearers and Executive Committee Members meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad.
According to a LCCI spokesman, Poultry Association leader Abdul Basit informed the Prime Minister that the Association has prepared proposals to bring the country out of price-hike galore. He said that if government provides some incentives to the poultry sector, the sector has the potential to do miracles. Talking about import of animals, Basit said that the import of a few infected/sick animals would harm 130 million local animals.
He also drew the attention of the Prime Minister towards research report from two UK-based universities whereby a theory has been propounded that mad cow disease may have been introduced in the UK by import of bone meal from India mixed with human bones extracted from dead bodies thrown in Ganges River. This report makes the import of livestock from India questionable, particularly when Pakistan lacks sophisticated laboratories, he added.
It pertinent to mention here that out of total meat consumption, the contribution of poultry meat is 36 percent as against 26 percent of mutton. The consumption of beef is around 38 percent, the spokesman concluded.