FAISALABAD, Nov 22: Representatives of government agencies and international organizations have observed that lack of market resources, non-availability of proper chaffs , poor administrative arrangements and diseases among cattle-heads are major obstacles in the promotion of livestock and dairy sector in the country.

They were speaking to participants on the first day of a week-long international workshop on 'Sustainable dairy sector development for poverty reduction' held under the aegis of the Livestock Management Department, National Productivity Organization, Pakistan and Financial Support of Asian Productivity Organization Japan at the University of Agriculture here on Monday.

They said the government of Pakistan would have to take steps on war-footings with the consultation of experienced scientists and field workers to meet the requirements of dairy and livestock.

They claimed that due to promotion of the livestock sector, the country could not only be self-sufficient in food but also fetch much-needed foreign exchange by exporting dairy and livestock products.

University of Agriculture vice-chancellor Dr Bashir Ahmed stressed upon the Asian countries to exchange their research documents and views on the promotion of livestock sector so that the new technology could be introduced in their respective countries.

He further said the dairy sector could more be strengthened by providing new seeds of chaffs to farmers, adopting caring measures for milch animals and creating awareness among the people about the livestock sector.

Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Rajab Ali Baloch said the importance of workshop was self-evident for dairy sector played an important role in the agriculture-based economy system.

He said the worth of only one production - milk obtained from animals was more than Rs44,000 million which was higher than the combined value of major cash crops from agriculture.

Apart from food, this sector provided hides, skins, fibres, manure, bones, blood, hair, leather and employment. He said this sub-sector of the agriculture was providing Rs35 billion foreign exchange, which was nine per cent of the total GDP.

Mr Baloch declared the poor genetic potentials, shortage and poor quality of feed resources, limited use of modern technology, consumer-oriented market price and government support price system, lack of incentives, lack of farmers education programmes and the poor extension services were the major constraints in establishing sustainable animal industry in the country.

He asked the experts to evolve a foolproof strategy to meet the WTO challenges and develop the dairy farming sector on modern lines. NPO's Dr Muhammad Khan, APO's Dr Muhammad Saeed and others also spoke on the occasion and highlighted their plans and research about the dairy farming in Pakistan. They also highlighted the problems being confronted to the breeders of milch animals and small farmers.