ISLAMABAD, May 25: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday approved the new poultry development policy aiming to increase the annual growth of poultry sector from the present 10-12 per cent to 15-20 per cent using modern technologies in production and processing of poultry.

Chairing a meeting here to review progress in the poultry sector and decide steps required for its further development, he said the government was paying special attention on creating opportunities and augmenting incomes in the rural areas.

He said as part of this effort the government was encouraging development of livestock and poultry sector because it had significant potential to bring improvements in the living standards of the people living in villages.

Mr Aziz said that the enormous potential of livestock remained underutilised in Pakistan and the government along with provinces was taking a number of steps, including re-orientation of public sector institutions, improvement of extension services, better R&D facilities, provision of more resources for the sector, infrastructure improvement and more incentives for private sector to add value to the products and increase the farm income.

He said the new poultry development policy would facilitate and support private sector-led development for sustainable poultry products to provide wholesome poultry meat, eggs and value added products to the domestic and international markets at competitive prices.

He said the government will encourage environmentally controlled housing for broilers and layers and it will create integrated production and processing system, including value addition in the poultry sector.

Approving the policy, Mr Aziz emphasized the need for its effective implementation and seamless coordination between the federal, provincial and local governments.

He said the federal government would act as a catalyst and provincial and district governments will play a key role in implementation. It will be a private sector-led development with public sector providing the enabling environment.

Secretary Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) Ismail Qureshi in his presentation said the poultry had 1.12 per cent share in national GDP and 1.5 million people are employed in this sector.

He said the poultry provides major source of quality proteins as its contribution in meat production is 20 per cent.