ISLAMABAD, June 2: The government, at the federal and provincial level, needs to adopt a 'solid livestock policy framework' to ensure sustainable increase in productivity and affordability for the consumers , says an FAO report presented at a national workshop here on Wednesday.
The workshop, organized jointly by FAO and Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL), was attended by private sector producers and officials of the federal and provincial governments.
Coinciding with a serious shortage of animals triggered by the indiscriminate official export of animals and smuggling, the report observed that the problems and recommendations to resolve these had been identified and the need now was to formulate a workable policy recommendation that "can lead to policy legislation and implementation".
Nevertheless, the authors of the report apparently succumbed to the stereotypes promoted by vested interests to show that livestock was the sole panacea for poverty and destitution among the rural population.
During 1980s, it says, meat production in Pakistan grew at 6.4 per cent per annum due to influx of Afghan refugees, keeping well ahead of the high population growth of 3.1 per cent. The limited resources thus over-drawn resulted in serious shortages and consequent rise in prices during 1990s resulting in drop in meat production to 2.7 per cent.
This coincided with the snowballing of those under poverty line. The report also does not mention the reasons underlying the current spurt in prices which have made meat a forbidden fruit for the low and middle income households.
Livestock, the report says, provide meat, milk, eggs, wool and hides and are thus a source of cash income. But the landless farmers and farmers with very small holdings remain poor because of their limited capacity to maintain animals and poultry birds.
It recommends that the producers who "are well established financially and have intensive production units need further encouragement in terms of, for example, availability of inputs, expanding local and international trade opportunities, and land reform".
Livestock producers in Pakistan face considerable challenges and constraints to increasing production, the most serious of which are feed shortages; loss of genetic material and lack of breeding programmes; challenges to animal health services; weak marketing infrastructure; and impact of drought.
"There are more challenges ahead, particularly in the areas of food safety, trans-boundary disease control, and protecting the environment," it points out.
The goals of livestock development initiatives and of livestock policy formulation in Pakistan as underscored by it are, to alleviate poverty; enhance food and income security; create opportunities for employment and investment; improve access to market; foster generation and adoption of innovation and technology; and increase awareness and management of the environment.
The report, based on inputs from provincial governments and various agriculture university, also drew the participants' attention to loss of germplasm, low availability of animal health services, drought, poor access to credit etc.