LAHORE, Sept 17: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has directed adviser on finance Dr Salman Shah to convene a meeting of poultry farmers for discussion on its problems and increasing poultry prices. The prime minister gave directions during his meeting with a delegation of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Islamabad recently. Chamber executive committee member Abdul Basit informed him that poultry prices could be controlled by accepting proposals of farmers.

Abdul Basit, a former zonal chairman of the Pakistan Poultry Association, informed the prime minister that the poultry industry was meeting 36 per cent of the country’s meat demand by producing quality white meat. Mutton consumption was only 26 per cent and beef 38 per cent.

He said the poultry sector was not only exposed to regular market slumps but also the threat of bird flue to its 130 million birds due to possible import of ‘sick livestock from India.’