At the provincial level, livestock and agriculture are placed under different managements while they are inseparable on the ground: there can be no initiative for the farmer that does not take his livestock possession and its potential in to account.
The low price of agriculture produce in the market has made cultivation, particularly for small farmers, non-viable. Meagre fodder for animals is often his only mileage from crops, which means that livestock becomes the sustaining force of the economy at times. Nowhere in Pakistan is this state more vividly portrayed than in the Punjab province.
According to the livestock census of 1966, Punjab has 13. 10 million buffaloes and 9.38 million cattle; they both have shown a positive growth trend. Sheep are an additional asset for breeders, particularly rural landless. But that seems to feature nowhere in policy considerations.
The new government of Punjab has demonstrated a keen and welcome interest in the livestock sector. But it apparently got into the government without preparing comprehensive policies for areas whose management falls under the provincial authority. It has consequently been trying to investigate different sectors to formulate policies. For livestock, it organized a two day workshop of stakeholders in Lahore in the first week of April to produce a “Breeding Policy and Action Plan’ for the sector.
The workshop came up with a number of recommendations that are to be fine tuned before adoption as policy of the present government. The effort was definitely a positive start but its scope was limited to buffaloes and cattle. Some vital aspects of the sector also need to be taken in to account.
Main objectives of the breeding policy in Punjab include improving milk yield from buffaloes and dairy cattle, reducing the age of calving intervals, conserving Nili Ravi buffalo and recognized breeds of cattle, maintaining the desired level of exotic animals in cross-breed cattle for obtaining maximum performance and ensuring good quality indigenous animals for drought conditions. Long and short-term action plans were also proposed at the end of the workshop.
Recommendations regarding enhancing productivity of animals and sustaining existing breeds of drought areas need particular attention because they would go a long way in meeting milk and meat needs of the populace, even for building export of dry milk and meat while the importance of animals suitable for drought conditions cannot be over-stressed in view of the recent experiences of drought in many parts of the country that left the populations of these regions starving.
There, however, is a lot more to the sector. The participants of the workshop and the draft recommendations skipped sheep and goat and they did not record views on fodder. Hopefully, that would be done when the recommendations are given the final shape for the government’s policy. Suffice it to say that one of the main problems in the sector is shortage of fodder and feed; they must be of quality and within the means of the small farmer.
Rural Punjab represents over 60 per cent of the population. Accurate statistics of the percentage of people living below the subsistence line in rural area are not available. Nothing surprising as reliable figures for many areas of life are more of guesstimates than compilation of facts based on painstaking research. However, if the impoverished of the society are around 40 per cent, their majority should be in villages for the simple reason that they have more people living in them.
It is consequently indicated that any initiative for the sector must be linked with programmes for poverty alleviation. This was obviously not for the workshop to propose but policy framers have to keep this aspect in view while embarking on any ambitious programme for improving the lot of the deprived.
This can be done by promoting employment in rural areas by boosting livestock based industries. Livestock contributes about six percent of the total exports earnings of the country. Leather products, footwear, raw wool, carpets, animal casings, hides, skins and meat are significant exports.
These exports were worth Rs.21,571 million in 1998-99. They rose to Rs22,650 million in the next year and reached Rs24,122 million 2001-02, indicating a rising curve. These exports can be built for higher returns but there are a few conditions to that. The quality of raw material must be improved. That depends on the share of the breeder.
Breeders, like the rest of the members of the rural sector, except rich landowners, are an exploited lot; they are not given the worth of their produce. Better quality is not to be expected from them without that. The provincial government should try to ensure a fair deal for the prices of the raw material they provide. While intentions are important for enhancing the productivity of any segment of the populace, the importance of fair play cannot be exchanged and replaced with programmes.
That is the starting point. The response to just treatment and fair deal needs no argument to stress the point but if examples are required, the success of Idara Kisan can be cited to substantiate the point. Milk production has significantly increased in the areas of its operations because farmers receive adequate and timely payment for the milk they sell to the organization.
They are also given numerous social sector benefits, besides veterinary treatment for their stock. Whatever the policies the government adopts and implements, their success would hinge on the kind of deal breeders are given. Better, assured and timely returns are essential for any improvement in the sector.
The key to enhancing contribution and productivity of the livestock sector is efficient and just marketing of the produce from breeders. The rest would follow as surely as day follows night. The breeder’s interest, not vested interest but simply support for decent survival would be vital for obtaining the optimum from the sector.
This is the basic condition for ensuring the realization of the objectives of draft recommendations.