The government is now taking steps to improve the livestock sector and plans to exploit its vast potential in terms of domestic requirements and exports. Talking to APP here on Thursday.
Mumtaz Manais, a progressive farmer of Tibba Sultanpur, district Vehari, urged the government to tap the rich livestock potential. Manais has the honour of wining the United Nations' FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) award twice in 1995 and 2005 for livestock breeding and as a model grower of edible oil producing crops such as sunflower.
He has also earned the highest civil award "Tamgha-e-Imtiaz" conferred on him by President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf in March 2007, for valuable research work in the field. "In spite of being an agricultural country, Pakistan imports meat from Australia and India by spending valuable foreign exchange, rather than exporting it," he said.
He said at the moment the livestock world trade stood at 63 billion dollars. The Arab countries import cattle-heads, goats and sheep from New Zealand and Australia, while Pakistan can capitalise on this big market, as the meat produced here fulfils all international quality requirements.
The multi-award winner farmer said if the country's livestock sector was developed to its full capacity, its trade deficit amounting to 12-13 billion dollars could be turned into surplus. "This will have a tremendous impact on the national economy, which is still undergoing teething pains," he observed.