FAISALABAD: The chain of livestock sector must be redefined from introduction of high yielding domestic breeds of milk animals up to exportable value-added products in addition to catering to the entire domestic needs, said Engr Ahmad Hassan Convener FCCI Standing Committee on Agriculture, Carbon Foot-Print/Zero Emission, Foundry & Allied Engineering.
Addressing the second meeting of this standing committee, he said that agriculture is the largest sector of our economy with 24% contribution towards GDP. “As a sub-sector of agriculture, the share of livestock is 14% towards national GDP and over 60% of the agriculture GDP,” he said and added that Pakistan is recognized as the fifth largest milk producing country despite lack of data, technology and innovative genetic applications.
He said that the average milk yield of buffalo in Pakistan per annum is around 2,031 as against the 12,000kg per cow per annum in Israel. He proposed the Digital Livestock Management System (DLMS) to connect all key stakeholders in animal husbandry, including government agencies, farmers and field officers.
“It will serve as one step solution for farmers, offering essential services such as communication channels, access to government schemes, an online marketing place for buying and selling, discussion forums and educational resources like knowledge videos,” he said and added that DLMS would also enhance the monitoring and implementation of government initiatives, enabling authorities to efficiently collect, manage and analyze livestock sector data for evidence-based policy making and improved service delivery.
He said that DLMS would modernize animal husbandry practices, improve access to veterinary services and facilitate a seamless livestock market place, fostering efficiency and growth in this sector. Enumerating its benefits, he said that it would increase milk and meat production through better breeding, feeding and health management. “It would also encourage climate resilient and eco-friendly practices,” he said and added that these measures would also encourage FDI in this potential sector.
Other members of the committee also took part in the discussion and gave tangible input to make it result oriented. Dr Arif gave a comprehensive presentation and said that zoning is prerequisite to get maximum yield from the imported breeds while ancillary industry could also be developed around this zone with the help of foreign investment and technology.
He said that the temperature of Naran and Kaghan is like the Netherlands and we could provide a suitable climate without extra expenses to the imported cows to get maximum milk. Muzammil Sultan, Engr Asim Munir, Waheed Khaliq Ramay, Muhammad Amjad Khawaja, Dr M Sharif and Dr HM Asif Javed also participated in this meeting. It was decided that Director Livestock would be invited to attend the next meeting to give his input and explain government strategy to give a boost to the livestock sector.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
