HYDERABAD: Cattle bree­ders, dairy farmers and livestock owners have underscored the need for exploiting potential of livestock sector by preserving indigenous breeds of buffaloes, goats and cows and advocated adaptation of modern technology to meet growing demand for meat and milk.

They said that cattle colonies were plagued by serious sanitation issues and dairy farmers had to face administrative action for increasing price of milk by a few rupees to meet their cost of production. Different breeds of cattle were on the verge of extinction due to lack of education, they cautioned.

They were speaking at ‘farmers day’ programme held at Sindh directorate of livestock here on Wednesday.

Sindh Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Abdul Bari Pitafi, who presided over the programme, said that his department was going to organise a grand cattle and livestock show in Hyderabad in February 2019.

The show would help develop linkage between farmers and corporate sector so that farmers could get experts’ services and clientele, he said.

He said that farmers would bring to the show all existing rare indigenous breeds of Sindh like Red Sindhi and Kankraj cows, Kundi buffalo, Kamori and Pateri goat, Thari cow and bull. Data on different breeds, farmers’ particulars, fodder, seed of fodder, corporate sector services, vaccination and medical service providers would also be collected, he said. He said that that Livestock Breeding Services Authority had been formed under The Sindh Livestock Breeding Act, 2016, and a farmers’ association would be formed to ensure growth and development of livestock sector on scientific lines. “Cattle colonies face water shortage issue. How can farmers be encouraged to shift there if there is no water,” he conceded.

DG Livestock Abdul Qadir said that Sindh would hopefully come close to Punjab’s livestock sector in terms of performance if it could not outdo it.

Akbar Dars, a progressive farmer, said that experimental farm of Thari breed on 4,500 acres in Nabisar faced serious issues. Work on three watercourses for supplying water to the farm had been abandoned after excavation work of desalination plant for Thar coal project, he said.

Well-known dairy farmer Jamil Memon, a recipient of Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, demanded that Russian vaccine against foot and mouth disease be developed in Sindh on cost-sharing basis.

He said that Punjab livestock department had bought the Russian drug which worked better than France’s for Rs2.5bn for eight districts, ridding them of the disease.

The vaccine could be developed on an island which existed in Sindh near Keti Bandar, he said.

He said that he had extracted 28 litres milk from Cholistan breed, followed by Red Sindhi and Sahiwal breeds and proposed that Red Sindhi breed should be promoted through cross breeding with artificial insemination.

Shakir Gujjar of Dairy and Cattle Farmers Association called for adaptation of modern technology to meet the ever-growing demand for meat and milk. Genetic improvement had become essential now for promoting different and better breeds, he said.

Dairy farmers and cattle breeders including Dr Hadi Bux Jatoi, Shafi Mohammad Pitafi, Sikandar Nagori, Abdul Ghani Nizamani and others complained that the department did not care to resolve their issues. There was no check on slaughtering of calf, they said.

Livestock Secretary Aijaz Mahesar and head of Sindh Institute of Animals Health Nazir Kalhoro also spoke at the programme.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2018