LIVESTOCK is an important sector of rural economy, providing milk and meat, which are the best sources of animal protein, in addition to wool, skin hides for export and manure for improving fertility of land and production of biogas.

Poor farmers who cannot invest the required amount in feeding and management mainly rear livestock. This leads to a yield that is far less than the genetic potential. The other losses occurring in this sector can be attributed to the sale of a large number of elite dry buffaloes and immature calves in urban dairy colonies to butchers.

In Landhi’s cattle colony in Karachi alone, more than 3,000 elite dry buffaloes and almost an equal number of immature calves are being sold to the butchers on a daily basis.

Moreover, around two million young male cattle and more than six million young male goats and sheep are being sold every year for meat purposes from regions like Tharparkar, Badin, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas and Sanghar to Karachi and other cities. If these meat-providing animals are fattened properly and sold on a weighing basis, the production can be doubled easily.

In order to boost up this sector, it is essential for the farmers to be given the required funds. Only a bank can satisfy this purpose. The establishment of a livestock development bank, on the lines of the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), will contribute to poverty alleviation. It should either have an office in every district or perhaps the ZTBL branches should have a separate counter to manage livestock affairs. It should provide credit to the livestock farmers on easy terms without mortgage.

In order to achieve development in the dairy sector, urban as well as rural farmers should be provided credits worth Rs1,000 per milking animal, Rs800 per beef-producing animal and Rs200 per mutton and wool-producing animal. This will enable them to purchase wheat straw, cotton seed cake and other food items upon the arrival of new crops.

Similarly, credits worth Rs100,000 for the purchase of a buffalo and Rs5,000 for the purchase of a calf should be given to farmers in peri-urban and rural areas for salvage purposes. This will help to prevent the slaughtering of elite dry buffaloes and calves.

Credits should also be provided to the traders of skin hides and wool processors to ensure quality production for export. In all cases, recovery should be in easy installments after a year. This way, rural as well as peri-urban farmers will be able to purchase dry buffaloes and calves. Desert farmers will start fattening farms, and the production of milk and meat will increase.

As the income of farmers sees a surge, it will ultimately lead to new job opportunities for the youth of the country, especially in rural Pakistan.

Dr Baz Muhammad Junejo
Hyderabad

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2022