KARACHI, Sept 12: The Sindh government is giving top priority to development of livestock to bring down milk and meat prices in the province.
For the first time in the history of the province, a separate department with a full-fledged minister for livestock has been given the task to develop the sector.
The ministry has plans to set up milk collection centres and has engaged reputed marketing companies, like Nestle and Engro.
Talking to Dawn, Minister for Livestock Abdul Haq Bhurt said that the ministry had initiated projects to grow fodder for better nourishment of animals to increase production of meat and milk.
It has engaged services of a livestock feed specialist who has been given the task of developing a least cost rationing formula to provide cheap fodder to cattle farmers.
He would hold meetings with progressive, small and commercial cattle farmers and brief them on modern ways of growing fodder for their animals.
The minister disclosed that the Nuclear Institute of Agriculture, Tandojam, has developed a formula to grow fodder in areas affected by salinity. It has grown on 200 acres various types of grasses suitable for cultivation in saline lands which are devoid of fertile quality.
The ministry is encouraging public-private partnership projects to grow fodder on economic scale to make availability of animal feed in abundance.
It is setting up feed mills at it two major cattle farms at Tando Mohammad Khan and at Korangi in Karachi, which are aimed to catering to the needs of non-grass feed of the cattle.
The feed is mixed with the green grass to add to the nutritious value of food for animals.
The ministry is advising farmers to grow ‘Lusan’ which is round the year crop and requires less water. It is best suited to the areas suffering from water shortages.
The steep rise in prices of cotton-seed cake and wheat bran has increased the price of milk in urban areas, hence it is vital to increase production of green fodder for the cattle.
According to the study, the fodder production in Sindh, which was 20 per cent up in 1976 declined to 10 per cent in 2004-05.