Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan has proposed heavy duty to be imposed on import of milk and whey powder rather banning their import to protect the local farmers' interests.
"No one is ready to buy fresh milk at Rs40-45 per kilogram, in the rural areas," he said talking to the mediamen here on Sunday.
The Minister said that India, Turkey and other countries had imposed 68% to 180% import duty on such things while in Pakistan only 20% duty was levied on the imports of milk and whey powder. The minister requested that the duty should be enhanced to protect the local farmers.He said that the cost of production had increased manifold during last few years.
He said that despite below 2,000 litre per animal yield in the country as compared to 9,000 litres per animal per annum in Europe, Pakistan was the fifth largest milk producing country in the world with 35.6 billion litres (natural contents) of milk per year. He said that Livestock and dairy sector played an important role in the economy of Pakistan.
Livestock contributed approximately 52% to agriculture value addition and 11 percent to the GDP during fiscal year 2008-09.There are around 8.5 million families who share production of most of the milk in Pakistan; 80 percent of which are small landless farmers. Per-animal yield is below 2,000 litres per annum compared to 9,000 litres per annum in European countries. However, despite the shortcomings, opportunities lie on the horizon in corporate dairy farming; milk processing and value added dairy and meat products. Corporate sector has taken lead in investing in dairy farming and from 2006 till 2016 more than Rs.9 billion (US $95 million) had been invested in the dairy farming sector. Milk processors particularly Swiss food giant Nestle had invested more than $37 million during 2015 to improve production capacity and reliability of its Pakistan's operation. "Pakistan continues to offer great opportunities for foreign investment and growth," the minister said after giving details of the overall position.
Asia's second largest milk processing factory has been set up in Pakistan by Nestle. Tetra Pack Pakistan invested 120 million Euros in a project in Pakistan.
The Minister said that selection of quality animals, genetics improvement for breeding, strong livestock research institutions and milk processing on scientific lines, were necessary steps to overcome low milk yield as compared to European countries.
"Local breeds including Sahiwal, Cholistan and Nili Ravi were much better animals as compared to imported cows and buffaloes because local breeds give milk until eight to nine lactations while the imported buffalo and cow give milk just until two lactations," he said urging the research institutions to adopt latest research and skill-focusing on local breeds to raise milk production in the country.