ISLAMABAD: Consumers are buying low-quality meat at high prices, primarily due to lack of regulatory mechanism in this field, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) said on Wednesday as it released a report on the meat sector and sought public comments.

Meat is one of the heaviest-weighed essential food items in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks prices of 481 commodities every month in the urban centres.

The CCP report covers issues such as price monitoring and quality of meat, also exploring the growth potential of the sector.

The commission has identified ineffective price and quality monitoring at the district level which results in expensive, low-quality meat for both urban and rural consumers.

It also said that smuggling of animals to neighbouring Afghanistan is also an issue that affects availability at affordable price to domestic consumers.

The study has been conducted as part of the assessments the CCP undertakes to understand competition issues in sectors that have implications for consumers.

Meat production in Pakistan is mostly an unregulated informal activity and the meat industry is marred with many challenges including the low yield per animal, poor animal feed, lack of awareness among livestock breeders related to breeds and veterinary care, and disease control.

Poor slaughtering methods and lack of accessibility to the animal markets leads to low quality of meat products and excessive pricing.

The report says that establishing new slaughterhouses and improving facilities at the existing ones is necessary to ensure quality safeguards. Moreover, increasing the accessibility of farmers to the animal mandis is essential for providing quality meat to the consumers at reasonable prices.

Therefore, the CCP recommends a public-private partnership to run the government slaughterhouses for efficiency and quality and to increase animal mandis so that farmers can easily access them.

Published in Dawn September 1st, 2016