Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday said the government would provide all necessary resources to bring about a white revolution in the country. Pakistan is an agricultural country and government is committed to enhance the production of dairy sector, the Prime Minister said.
He said this during a presentation given to him by former Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives Jehangir Khan Tareen MNA on the Pakistan Dairy Development Company (PDDC) here on Tuesday at the PM Secretariat.
The Prime Minister said the improvement of dairy sector, which contributes 11 percent to the country's GDP, will not only help meet the domestic needs but will boost the country's exports in this sector.
In his presentation Jehangir Tareen briefed the Prime Minister that the project aims at utilising the enormous potential of the country's dairy sector.
He said that currently there are eight millions dairy farming households in the country but because of poor storage and processing facilities only five per cent of this is processed and hygienically packaged.
CEO PDDC, Jeff Walker told the meeting that the company has undertaken programmes called Cooling Tank programme for building links to market, enhancing quality and ensuring increased collection of milk and Model Farm programme for demonstrating the gains that can be made and building models of profitability.
He told the Prime Minister that technology transfer from Australia and New Zealand is the main feature of the Model Farm programme, which would be adapted to the needs of the local conditions of Pakistan.
This programme, he said, has been implemented in 265 farms so far where cost of milk production and veterinary care is reducing while milk production has increased by at least 30 percent. He said by June 2009 the company will reach the mark of 1000 model farms.
The Prime Minister was also told about certain other programmes of the company, which include Community Farming of milk for allowing the poorest farmers to build stakes in society, Milk Pocket Development for providing assistance where all milk produced is not utilised at present, Bulk Vending for the provision of pasteurised milk in loose form, Biogas for assisting small rural families in meeting their fuel requirements and Breeding Programme for building a herd which can produce about
2000 good quality cows each year. The Prime Minister was told that PDDC is also interacting with Pakistan Army, which has the biggest dairy farms in the country for building a model for profitable corporate dairy farming.