CHITRAL, May 13: The livestock and dairy development is the most neglected and backward department in the district in spite of its merger with the agriculture department under the devolution of power plan.

The sorry state of affairs can be gauged from the fact that doctors have been posted in only two out of six veterinary hospitals, while out of 17 veterinary dispensaries, 11 are without any staff.

As if it were not enough, no medicines are available owing to paucity of funds at the hospitals and the farmers are left with no option other than clinging to the obsolete and unscientific ways of keeping livestock without deriving any significant benefits from them. Moreover, most people are forced to use milk power, as no dairy farm has yet been opened in the district.

Similarly, the solitary poultry farm of the department was closed due to the lack of funds some five years ago after functioning for only one year.

When contacted by Dawn, the district officer of the department, Dr Arifullah, said that during the last nine months, the department had cured 36,050 head of cattle and 88,389 chickens apart from immunizing 7,980 animals against different diseases.

He appreciated the efforts of the defunct Chitral Area Development Project (CADP) to help modernize the department in the district. He lamented that after the winding up of the project some five years ago, no development activity could be initiated.  

Dr Arifullah said the livestock wing of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) was cooperating with the department and helped it whenever there occurred the outbreak of any disease.

Regarding sheep and goat farming, he said the CADP had distributed Angora sheep among the farmers on subsidized prices but the generation could not be multiplied due to ignorance among the recipients.