Improving Dairy Production in Pakistan through improved extension services, a project under Agriculture Sector Linkages Programme (ASLP), is going to end by next month and another four year project is expected to start in April-May this year to increase milk production of small holding dairy farms by providing improved extension services on the basis of experience gained during the on going project.
Livestock and dairy experts of the Australian government and its organisations working for ASLP will visit Pakistan in near future to review the ongoing project and give final shape to the new project. The present project is being run with the collaboration of Livestock and Dairy Development Board (LDDB) under financial assistance of Australian government.
The pilot project was carried out by a team of Charles Sturt University, Australia in Okara and Bhakkar districts where 14 and eight dairy farms, respectively were selected for the survey and practical demonstration of good dairy practices by these Australian teams. After successful completion of pilot project, this model will also be replicated in four districts of Punjab and two districts of Sindh.
This was stated by David McGill, ASLP Dairy Project Manager, while talking to Business Recorder here the other day. He said that Australian experts imparted training to extension workers, dairy farmers, employees of NGOs with latest livestock practices. Local small dairy farmers have succeeded in improving per animal milk production by 1.5 liter besides hygienic and healthy treatment of livestock.
"The primary goal of the project is to improve extension services that will ultimately benefit 8.5 million small dairy farmers of Pakistan", he added. Provision of effective extension services has been a source of concern for policy makers. Not only these extension workers are least prepared with latest techniques but they also lack up-to-date communication skills. Therefore, their outreach is very limited.
Especially, small dairy farmers are not fortunate enough to get services of these extension workers. While sharing his experience David said as many as two hundred small farmers of Bhakker and Okara districts have been trained with latest livestock farming techniques.
The themes of the project are to provide support for model system of smallholders' dairy production as well as to capture and enhance their knowledge of dairy farming. He observed that practical approach was stressed to create awareness among farmers regarding available technical information.
He said such survey will help develop extension material, which will be used to facilitate field staff and farmers training. Employees of Livestock and Dairy Development Board, National Rural Support Programme and Idara-e-Kissan have been given training. Subsequent training of small dairy farmers has been done with the help of these extension workers.
David said that during first phase of the project, economic and social benefits of improved extension services to small dairy farmers have been demonstrated. Besides, he added, efforts were made to enhance the scope and quality of information used for training extension personnel. He said milk yield of local animals, including buffaloes and cows, could be increased by simply untying them besides ensuring free access to drinking water and availability of fresh fodder.
Four dairy expert workshops have been conducted, involving Pakistani and Australian scientists to enhance the research capacity of local scientists in priority fields relevant to the ongoing development of the dairy sector. To a question, he termed that local farmers are very friendly and keen to learn about new things. He said his stay in Pakistan was memorable as he enjoyed a lot during visits of villages.