A proposal to import livestock from India to meet the persisting meat shortage and lower the soaring prices in the country is under serious consideration of the government.

After the federal cabinet and its Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and discussed the issue, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who wants high prices of essential items to be brought down, asked the minister of state for commerce Hamid Yar Haraj to submit recommendations in this regard to the cabinet as early as possible.

When the issue of the soaring meat prices and the sharp public protest was discussed in the cabinet meeting it was realized that the demand for meat was increasing by 6 per cent annually, while the domestic production was increasing by only 3 per cent. If imports do not fill the gap in the short run, the prices of meat will keep on rising and public protest mounting in a country marked for its low protein consumption and gross under-nourishment.

India alone has an exportable surplus of cows and bulls unlike Pakistan's neighbours in its West. Afghanistan depends on imports from Pakistan legally or illegally. Iran imports a great deal of meat from Australia and New Zealand as well.

Apart from other possible problems, the two countries have to overcome a major handicap in the area of transportation. Now trade between India and Pakistan is confined to the railway mode, and the land route cannot be used. The two countries have to agree to use the land route to make trade in livestock possible, easy, and economic.

The Karachi Chamber of Commerce has brought out a report on trade with India in which it says that if trade between the two countries by the land route is permitted, they can save $2 billion annually in the cost of transportation.

Pakistanis and Indian businessmen also want the trading to be permitted through shipping channels, particularly between Karachi and Bombay on normal terms.

This is not the first time that import of livestock from India has been considered by Pakistan. In the past however, relations between the two countries were far from happy, but the relations have improved a good deal now, and businessmen in both the countries are in the lead in wanting to promote large-scale trade between the two countries.

The KCCI report says that formal trade between the two countries is now about $250 million but actually the trade is for $2 billion, including through third countries and illegal channels, including smuggling. The actual scope for trade between the two countries is $10-15 billion. What matters is how soon the two countries can lift the political and legal barriers for a full-scale trade between them.

Import of livestock from India will be a very small part of the possible overall trade between the two countries. But what was not possible in the past can become real now if the two governments are willing. And India is the easiest and cheapest source for getting the livestock to meet our chronic meet shortage and lower high prices.

The livestock used to be smuggled into Afghanistan freely in the past. But in recent times, the political agents in the NWFP and Balochistan have been issuing permits for the cattle. But the actual number of animals sent out to Afghanistan has been far in excess of that mentioned on the permits. So the issuing of permits has been stopped, but the smuggling is presumably continuing.

A recent cabinet meeting was very critical of the ministry of food, agriculture and livestock for ignoring the important livestock sector and directed the ministry to submit a new development plan quick.

A committee was appointed by the EEC sometime ago to suggest the means to increase the supply of livestock. It came up with an eight-point report which suggested control of smuggling, allowing import of Halal meat from India, developing real capacity in the country for disease prevention, and including banks to provide loans for livestock development.

The committee's recommendations were not implemented as there is no real livestock lobby, unlike the fishing lobby and chicken lobby among the small sector and cotton and wheat lobbies in the larger sectors.

The new minister for food and agriculture, Sikander Hayat Khan Bosan, said last week that his ministry was working on a livestock policy which would be presented to the cabinet soon.

He said a special task force has been set up for this purpose, which included agriculturists, traders and experts. He expects the policy to be presented by the end of December and that would provide more job opportunities to the people.

The EEC committee had also recommended expansion of poultry farming. This industry has to be placed on a firmer footing so that prices do not soar too often and crash occasionally. The government should look into this industry with greater zeal than it has shown hitherto.

The governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Dr Ishrat Husain, has in his five-year road map for banks suggested that they should be able to provide loans to three million households in the farming sector, including the livestock. If enough loans are available on easy terms , the livestock industry can come up in an organized manner.

From time to time, attempts have been made to promote livestock farming; they did not make much a headway. Foreign investors, including Americans came, looked around and left. The government was ready to relax the ceiling on land holding under the land reforms to make large cattle farms of the Western-type possible. But the foreign investors did not find the prospects in Pakistan very attractive.

When it came to cattle farming or meat production by Pakistanis. they found it easier to raise chicken within some days and take them to the market and make quick money instead of investing on cattle and waiting for very long to take it to the market.

Those who do not want to invest on fishing where they don't have to feed the fish, unlike chicken or cattle, may not have the patience to invest on livestock and wait for long for ample results. The quick-return policy is more common among our investors in a country known for its high profits.

The prime minister says agriculture in all its forms needs a Focused policy to make it competitive to cope with the WTO regime which helps the survival of the fittest.

He told last week a group of members of the Parliament that the majority of the people lived in the rural areas and agriculture was the major source of income for them. So agriculture has to be developed along modern lines, and that would help raise their standard of living.

He wanted them to promote agro-based industries in the rural areas which could increase employment there manifold and add to the rural wealth. This sector, too, has received too little attention, except by a few companies, over the years.

It would be easier to set up such production centres when easy bank loans are available at low rates of interest, which are prevailing now. The modern farmers, or progressive farmers as they call themselves, should take the lead in this area become models for others.

If the livestock production does not go up fast and in the meanwhile we do not import meat from India, after checking smuggling to Afghanistan and Iran, prices of mutton would go up far above the current rates of Rs200 to Rs220 per kilo, and boneless beef would rise far above the current Rs120 per kilo.

Having taking the initiative to improve the situation, the government should make positive and sustained moves in this direction and not be content with the temporary compromises with the meat sellers.

An attempt was made to import mutton from Australia which was found both costly and unsuitable for Pakistani taste. The better New Zealand meat is far more costly.

So Pakistan has to look around the region for import of meat after stopping the smuggling from the country.