LAHORE: The so-called austerity drive of the ousted Buzdar government thwarted the Livestock and Dairy Development Department plans to go from animal disease treatment to prevention regime.

“The department could not purchase 40 vehicles required to serve as customised mobile vaccination units because of denial of funds under the austerity drive and thus could not enter the phase of disease prevention, an upgrade on the present treatment phase,” an official tells Dawn.

He says the permission did come in the last cabinet meeting of Buzdar government, but by then it was too late, adding that now it is unlikely that the lengthy procedure of procurement under the Public Procurement Regularity Authority (PPRA) rules gets completed within the ongoing financial year.

Due to the cut on funds, he says, the department could utilise only 60 per cent of its Rs5 billion Annual Development Programme for the fiscal ending on June 30, 2022. The major schemes were Rs1bn prime minister’s package, over Rs510 million breed improvement project, Rs300m CM’s plan for livestock, over Rs320m provision of silage machines, Rs200m for new sub-campus of the Lahore Veterinary University, Rs150m for a state-of-the-art dairy farm at Taunsa, and an equal amount for veterinary centres at Sheikhupura, Mianwali and Muzaffargarh.

The official says the department has proposed Rs5.5bn ADP for the next fiscal (2022-23) with major thrust on production enhancement, breed and nutrition improvement, disease prevention and infrastructure improvement. The proposal includes allocations for 22 new and 16 on-going development schemes and a special apportionment of Rs744m for southern Punjab.

About the lumpy skin disease, the official claims that it is well under control in the province as a contingency plan has been put in place to meet the challenge.

Stressing that neither the disease-affected animal, nor its meat and milk carry any health threat for humans, he says laboratories of the department have so far provided 70,000 doses of Capri-pox vaccine, not only in Punjab, but also in Sindh and Balochistan.

Dairy farmers are being educated through various means about taking preventative measures to check spread of the disease that happens mostly through flies and ticks, he says.

Wherever a case is reported, all cows (as it does not affect buffaloes) in a two to five kilometer radius of the affected animal are vaccinated, he adds.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2022