THE ministry of food, agriculture and livestock (Minfal) has initiated a European Union funded project for the livestock. The project is aimed at undertaking baseline survey of specific parameters related to the livelihood in rural, peri-urban and urban areas in 30 districts. Its overall objective is to realize the potential of this sector by improving the livelihood of farmers through disease control, improved services and enhanced productivity.
The consultancy has been acquired to study the level of awareness among farmers about breeding of animals, their health, nutrition, management, and marketing. The consultants will determine shortfalls and suggest measures as how to make the sector more effective and efficient. The status of livestock feed, fodder and its conservation practices, availability of quality concentrates, use of legumes, fodder trees and contribution of livestock to household income too, will be deliberated. The target groups of this baseline survey will include the subsistent, market-oriented, urban and peri-urban dairy farmers, nomads and herders.
A large number of projects have already collected information on various livestock issues including those in the baseline survey. One wonders as to what was the point of overburdening the nation by taking funds from the EU for this new project.
The Livestock and Dairy Development Department, Punjab in collaboration with the GTZ of Germany made a house to house survey on buffaloes and cattle problems at district, tehsil and village levels. The Department made recommendations to overcome various issues for increasing the milk and meat production and enhancing the income of livestock farmers, especially the small cultivators.
Similarly, a study was made by taking millions of dollars from the Asian Development Bank. This study too reported constraints in livestock development and suggested measures to overcome these but no steps were taken by the policy makers.
Instead more loans were taken for further studies. For instance, millions of dollars were taken from the World Bank at federal and provincial levels. Reports on problems in production, marketing, research and services were made. As a result master plans were developed for each province which highlighted problems and various alternate plans to resolve these.
The FAO in collaboration with the concerned national organizations studied fodder problems and recommended various measures. Parc has also made a number of studies focusing on large and small ruminants, camels and depleting rangelands. These are just a few examples. Several other such studies at federal and provincial levels were also made on dairy and poultry farming. Besides, several national and international seminars, workshops and conferences were held. National and international scientists made recommendations for overcoming various problems faced by this sector. Instead of developing a sound livestock policy, the policy makers continued surveys and studies through consultancy services after taking loans from foreign and national resources. The major reason is that the concerned people are more interested in taking commissions from the consultancy firms which are awarded unnecessary projects.
According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2004-05, the livestock accounts about 46.8 per cent of the agricultural value-added and 10.8 per cent of the GDP. About 30-35 million rural population is engaged in livestock raising having the household holdings of 2-3 cattle/buffalo and 5-6 sheep/goat per family which helps them drive 30-40 per cent of their income.
Pakistan is the fifth largest milk producing country and it is estimated that the country produces 28 billion litres of milk a year whose value is more than that of the combined value of wheat and cotton.
Despite this, milk and milk products are being imported increasing the import bill from Rs0.34 million in 1993-94 to Rs770 million in 2002-03, although we posses high yielding Nili-Ravi and Kundi breeds of buffaloes and Sahiwal and Red Sindhi breeds of cattle.
The present milk yield of these breeds is much below their achievable potential of 5,000 litres per lactation period due to poor management. The yield of these breeds in the Indian Punjab is far higher due to better livestock management and the removal of the influence of feudal and bureaucracy on small farmers.
The livestock population, excluding poultry has increased from 110.2 million in 1996 to 135.7 million in 2004-05 but we are still importing live animals and meat worth over Rs178 million to meet the population needs. It is not understandable that on the one hand we are importing livestock and on the other exporting or smuggling it to Afghanistan, Iran and the Middle Eastern countries. These observations reflect on our poor management policies.
There is no dearth of competent scientists in the country with national and international experience. A committee of such scientists can be formed to develop a plan on resolving these problems from the livestock sector. Implementation should be monitored and evaluated for timely removal of constraints.
Instead of spending money on surveys, it should be spent on the implementing of the plan. It should include increasing the livestock breeding, nutrition, marketing, education, research, veterinary and extension services improvement. Free veterinary and extension services should be provided at the doorstep. The poor livestock farmers pay for veterinary services which majority can ill- afford.
The livestock is a major source of food and income of the people living in 10.6 million hectares of deserts. Female camels are overlooked as a valuable source of milk, meet, skin, hair, fuel, bones, ploughing, riding and transportation. There is no camel research institute here.
All research activities are confined to other livestock such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat equines, poultry etc. A camel breeding programme for improved milk and meat yield, increase in speed, tolerance to harsh environments etc., can be supplemented with better nutrition, healthcare and efficient facilities for marketing of camels and their bye-products.
Developing high speed racing camels could earn billions of rupees through their export to the UAE where camel race is the national sport activity. These could also be exported to African countries where camel meat is used as staple food. Technology of improving desert ranges, fodder grass, shrubs, fodder and trees is already well- established. It should be effectively implemented to meet the feed requirements of large and small ruminants of desert regions.
The government has announced a policy to implement a dairy development plan for setting up 11,200 dairy farms in 10 years that will provide 3.1 million new jobs. The Pakistan Dairy Development Company created for the execution of this plan has decided to launch a pilot project for setting up over 100 model farms with 3,750 animals producing 15,000 litres of milk per day during the next three years with an estimated cost of Rs15,142 million to be provided in the form of grants and loans.
There are around 300 dairy farms of varying sizes across the country. The industry is facing problems such as the lack of high yielding milch animals, feed and fodder, health and advisory services, transportation, inefficient marketing system and the distance from the villages. As a result, several dairy farms and industrial units are already closed down. The Pakistan Dairy Development Company should learn lesson from these constraints and implement their pilot project on sound footings. The government should also give priority to the livestock development projects rather than continuing unnecessarily with baseline surveys.