ISLAMABAD: On average, 14 trucks of milk are made from one truck of fresh milk after processing in factories, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) was told on Friday.

“It is also strange that fresh milk contains over 6pc of fats but when processed, packaged milk only contains around 3pc of fats,” Secretary Livestock and Dairy Development Punjab Naseem Sadiq said.

He said licences were given to companies to prepare dry milk and that the over 20 companies now do not make dry milk and are producing tea whiteners.

Companies awarded licences for dry milk production are instead making tea whiteners, NA body told

“Most of the dry milk today is being imported from India and sold here. I suggest that local milk be subsidised and duty should be increased on imported milk. This way, we will also be able to save our cattle population, which has been reducing every year,” Mr Sadiq said.

Many experiments were conducted in the past for introducing American and Australian models of handling livestock but it was observed that only the Pakistani model can work here, he added.

“There are 200 breeds of sheep in Pakistan and you will find a new breed of buffaloes and cows after every 150 kilometres. Some 46pc of the population has livestock and 95pc of the women handle cattle. If we train these women, they can bring [improvement to the livestock sector]. Some 96pc of the people who have cattle do not have land and they have to get grass from elsewhere,” he said.

Mr Sadiq said there is no future of agriculture in Punjab because almost 68pc of farmers have just a few acres of land. The government should try to convince farmers to switch to livestock.

He said that for the first time, the concerned departments are collecting data on livestock and farmers and women are being encouraged to start the business of livestock and poultry farming.

“It is a proven fact that the population of a country can be controlled if its women are encouraged to start working. If women, who make up half the population of the country, start working, this will also improve the health of children,” he said.

IPC Minister Riaz Pirzada said huge progress has been observed in Punjab and a new facility for providing medical treatment to cattle has been provided in the far flung areas of the Cholistan desert.

“Veterinary doctors visit farms and provide free of cost medicines. Things have also started improving in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh,” he said.

Meeting without quorum

Three members of the committee - Chaudhry Nazeer Ahmed, Sabiha Nazir and Aftab Shahban Mirani - got to the committee room at 2pm, when the meeting was to commence. The committee chairman, Abdul Qahar Khan Wadan suggested waiting for the rest of the members as the quorum was not complete.

However, after they had waited for half an hour, Mr Ahmed and Ms Nazir said they had other commitments and left. Both the PML-N parliamentarians requested that their presence be marked, though the register was not available at the time.

Though the secretary committee informed those gathered that the meeting cannot be started without meeting the quorum, the chairman said it should be started as bureaucrats had come from all the provinces to attend. The meeting started with only the chairman and one more member, Mr Mirani, attending.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2018