THATTA, April 12: Per day intake of protein in Pakistan is very low in comparison to the rest of the world as an adult person who requires 27 grams of protein a day have on the average only 17 grams, says Qazi Jan Mohammad, deputy secretary of livestock and fisheries on Thursday.

Talking to Dawn the official said that in Sindh’s arid and backward areas the protein intake was even less and stressed coordination between public and private sectors to help rear potential in production and marketing of livestock to meet protein requirement in the province.

As per 2004 census of livestock there were 8.761 million buffalo, 7.195 million cattle, 4.906 million sheep and 13.038 million goats in Sanghar, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Mithi and the other districts of the province, he said.

He said that Karachi, the biggest market of the country, consumed over 8 million litres milk and 630 metric tons meat daily and its on average its monthly requirements grew by 0.25 per cent.

The practice of slaughtering buffalo calves which had been going on since two decades had dropped the number of buffalo population in the country and subsequently caused an increase in its cost, he said.

He said that Karachi, Thatta, Sanghar, Umerkot and Jacobabad needed hygienic slaughterhouses and suggested establishment of meat development and extension centres, control over ECTO and ENTO parasites, coordination with commercial institutes and NGOs for providing credit and other technical services.