PAKISTAN with 33 million tones of milk production per year is ranked as world’ fifth leading milk producing economy. Per capita milk availability is about 240 litre per annum that is much higher than most of the developing countries.
However, dairying shows rural subsistence orientation with no major economic benefit to the dairy farming community even when operated on large scale in peri-urban areas.
The number of problems including poor genetic merit of dairy cattle and buffalo, patchy feed availability, occurrence of metabolic disorders and epidemics, reproductive failures, lack of market orientation and faulty livestock development and education policies is hampering the economic returns from this sector and almost makes it fragile for investment.
The orthodox dairy management operations makes the picture of dairy sector look gloomier. It is imperative that dairy sector must be developed with modern management, feeding and marketing systems to make it viable for investment and to assure food security. This could only be possible through development of much-needed livestock extension linkages.
Dairy animals with higher milk yield and better milk quality genetic potential is the prime step in the industrialization of dairying.
Genetic merit of dairy cattle (Sahiwal, Red Sindhi and Cholistani) and buffalo (Nili-Ravi and Kundi) can be improved through modern genetic selection techniques for higher milk yield. Mass scale selection programmes for economic traits in these species must be carried out through involvement and consultancy of animal breeding and genetics professionals who have particular insight in dairy breeding.
Our dairy breeds have wide phenotypic and genetic variation that could help in rapid genetic gain for milk yield through selection. It is important to differentiate here that the professionals working in animal reproduction have no capacity to give input in dairy breeding (breed improvement) although they can contribute to dairy breeding schemes as a secondary partners by providing aids like artificial insemination and embryo transfer technologies.
Unfortunately, even after having the breed improvement departments since five decades, the genetic potential of Sahiwal and Nili-Ravi for milk yield had shown negative trend. The international and national scientific research reports on genetic merit of Sahiwal for milk yield indicated a genetic deterioration rather improvement. These departments may not have the professionals (animal breeding and genetics) who can gear up the genetic potential of cattle and buffalo toward higher milk yield through proper selection procedures.
Cross breeding of non-descript cattle to develop synthetic breeds for dairying could be considered as an important and less time consuming tool to upgrade local cattle population for higher milk production. However, it needs careful planning and professional insight.
We have imported the semen of many European breeds (Holstein Frisian, Jersey, Brown Swiss, and Short-Horn dairy cattle) that was and being used indiscriminately in the field and now we are facing threats of endangered local breeds like Sahiwal. The other way around, the Australians just use the gift of Sahiwal cattle from Pakistan and by proper breeding they developed the synthetic breeds like Australian Milking Sahiwal and now earn much foreign exchange by exporting it to tropical countries.
It is the essence of time to restructure the livestock breed improvement departments in Pakistan to make them viable centres for genetic selection and cross breeding schemes to have dairy animal with high genetic merit for milk production to attract investment. Breed registration, un-biased milk recording both in the field and at public farms, institutional integration and involvement of right professionals are some of the important steps that could help in this regard.
Feeds and feeding accounts more than 70 per cent of the all expenditures incurred to produce one litre of milk. Proper feeding regimens according to the requirements of animal specie, breed, age, physiological stage and environmental conditions are prerequisite not only for economic returns from dairy animals but to avoid morbidity and mortality losses. Presently dairy animals are suffering from nutritional disorders and deficiencies. It was estimated that livestock population in Pakistan is getting 66- 74 per cent of the required energy and protein per year.
There is also two fodder lean periods namely November-December and May-June. Further, because of the increasing human population, the area under fodder cultivation is decreasing per year. Dairy animals are being fed mainly on roughages like wheat straw and rice straw those have a little nutritive value especially for lactating cows. A lactating cow needs about 50 percent of her feed from cereal grains, their by-products and oil seed meals. However, according to Food and Agriculture Organization estimates, the dairy animals in Pakistan have less than 10 per cent of such ingredients in their daily diets.
Presently, a few dairy feed plants are being operated both in public and private sectors. No large scale attempt has been seen to prepare and distribute dairy formula feed. There is a dire need to establish nutrient requirements of dairy animals under our own environmental conditions. Much research is needed to provide alternative feeds to mitigate fodder and concentrate deficiencies in dairy animals.
The techniques like nitrogen fixation in poor quality straw, ensiling of fodders during abundant availability periods, concentrate feed blocks, mineral supplements could contribute well, if dairy farmers are trained to take benefit from these techniques. However, it is much needed that government should start or encourage private sector for provision of concentrate feeds on a large scale to dairy farmers. The least cost dairy feed formulation (using un-conventional feed resources) and its provision could perk up the existing situation to have more economic benefits out of dairying.
Over the past seven years, milk production has increased over 20 per cent. This increase reflected simultaneous increase in cattle and buffalo population. Such increase is known as horizontal expansion. However, this sector needs vertical expansion that is increase in milk production because of the increase in per animal yield. Horizontal expansion could never assure sustainable increase in milk yield and it could not benefit the farmers for their socio-economic uplift.
Most of the (about 75 per cent) dairy cattle and buffaloes are being kept by small land holder or land less farmers in small herds (below five animals/farmer).
To up grade their socio-economic conditions, there is need to develop dairy cooperatives. The “perishable nature of milk and the range of skills involved in its production and marketing, dairying requires a number of services that can best be provided by cooperative action. The cooperative movement has featured prominently in the development of the dairy industry worldwide.
The FAO described Pakistan’s experience in dairy cooperates as follows: “Although since the mid-1970s attempts have been made to establish dairy cooperative societies, these attempts have not resulted in a comprehensive network of cooperatives as expected.
Reasons for this are considered to be private sector intervention and the poor infrastructure in many milk shed areas. The same problems have also hampered the formation of village livestock associations. Farmers’ committees are currently being established in all provinces.”
“ These committees offer input services to farmers and collect milk from them, delivering it to the chilling centres managed by the Pakistan Dairy Association for further distribution to various milk processors. It is hoped that the newly organized dairy industry will reduce the dominance of the traditional milk traders (middlemen) so as to increase farmers’ incomes and provide urban consumers with better quality dairy products”.
The real aim of a dairy cooperative is to provide services either free of charge or at a reasonable cost to its members. Cooperatives provide farmers with an organizational arrangement at the grassroots level to assist them in planning, decision-making and implementing schemes that involve them and their families and that are designed to raise their socio-economic standards. Dairy cooperative has been recognized as an important means of organizing the supply of dairy inputs, processing and marketing of milk and providing credit, among other related activities.
Milk marketing is run by middle man (Gawalas and dhodhees) and more over the multi-national milk processing plants that offer very low price to the farmers and sell milk and its products at higher rates to the consumer. Gawalas usually operate as a three-tier system at primary, secondary and tertiary level and they often go for diluting milk with polluted water and de-creaming thus selling often malignant milk. The multi-national milk plants and related monopoly is further deteriorating the milk marketing situation.
The main constraint which the milk producers seek to overcome by acting collectively is the marketing of their product. The dairy farmers need to cooperate by establishing their own collection system and milk treatment facility in order to convert their perishable primary produce.
Presently, over 80 per cent of milk is being consumed as fresh milk. Fresh milk contains many zoonatic pathogens and a number of adulterants that can cause many human health problems right from tuberculosis to cancer. The milk collected through cold chain after pasteurization offers no human health risk.
Development and implementation of milk standards is also essential to define milk price based on quality.
Dairy science and technology education universities also need to support industry in dairy breeding, nutrition, industrial management and product quality. Presently no under-graduate program is available in the country to support this sector.
Presently, Pakistan has only a few scholars in prime principles of dairy science including animal breeding and genetics, dairy nutrition, dairy management, and dairy technology to support and develop dairy industry. It is essential because the veterinarian could only provide support to the animal industry developed on the animal production science principles. Animal or dairy production science is altogether a different subject than that of veterinary education.
In conclusion, development of dairy cooperates, restructuring of extension, research and educational institutions could perk up rural oriented dairy sector to market oriented dairy industry that guaranteed food security social and economic growth in Pakistan.
PAKISTAN with 33 million tones of milk production per year is ranked as world’ fifth leading milk producing economy. Per capita milk availability is about 240 litre per annum that is much higher than most of the developing countries.
