December 26, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 27, 1429

HYDERABAD, Dec 25: Prof Dr Mushtaq A. Memon of Washington State University has said that unique indigenous breeds of Sindhi cattle like red cow, Kundi buffalo and some breeds of goats and cows are fast disappearing and the next generations might only see them in photographs in textbooks.

He said at the concluding ceremony of a training course on artificial methods of breeding at the Sindh Agriculture University in Tandojam on Wednesday that no body seemed to be worried in the country, especially in Sindh, at shortage of milk in near future and people had stopped caring about quality of milk or transfer of diseases from animals to human beings.

Sindh Secretary for Livestock Mir Mohammad Parhiar said that the government had not so far achieved expected results despite spending huge amount on the development of livestock sector and providing necessary facilities to the field staff.

He said that the government had provided motorcycles to 900 out of 1,100 stock assistants still the livestock owners were not receiving necessary guidance and facilities with regards to animal diseases.

The training course was jointly organised by the veterinary faculty of the SAU and the Washington State University, USA.

He called upon the district officers of the department and other staff to do justice to their job by reaching out to poor livestock owners. If the available funds, which were more than enough, were spent judiciously livestock breeding would very soon achieve the status of an industry.

The vice-chancellor of the university, Dr Abdul Qadir Mughal, said that despite being a very important sector of agrarian economy livestock had received step-motherly treatment over the years.

He said that in the developed countries, livestock sector had been given the status of an industry while in Pakistan even rare animals were fast becoming extinct.

He welcomed cooperation extended by the American university in holding the training course and called for more cooperation. The university would hold such training courses on a regular basis to help develop livestock sector, he said.