Secretary Livestock and Dairy Development Sajid Yousafani on Friday said that laws on Halal products’ certification are being framed and would be finalised soon. The Secretary was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He said that draft laws on Halal product certification had already been prepared by Halal Development Agency working under Justice Khalilur Rehman and would take another 20 to 30 days to get final shape.
On the issue of low milk productivity, the Secretary said that although the country is the fourth largest milk producer in the world with fourth largest population of cattle-heads, the milk production remained the lowest when it is compared with the developed countries including the US and Australia. In the United States milk production per day per cow is around 40 litres while it is 30 litres per day in Australia.
He said that cross breeding was being given a special attention to overcome the challenge of low productivity while Breed Improvement Farms had also been established for the purpose. Besides this, the Secretary said, a data of 750,000 farmers had been collected to update them on latest farming techniques, livestock fattening methodologies, safety measures and possible outbreak of diseases.
Sajid Yousafani said that Provincial Disease Surveillance Laboratories had been established at all the District Headquarters for diagnostic purposes. He said that Pakistan is the only country in the region that has been declared free from bird flu.
On the demand of LCCI, the Secretary assured that the logo of Lahore Meat Company (LMC) would be displayed at all the selling points where LMC processed meat is being sold.
Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Farooq Iftikhar called for development of new high-productivity and disease-resistant breeds in the country. He said that research institutes working in the field of livestock sector should project their work to create awareness among the stakeholders. He said that the pace of commercialisation towards state-of-the-art production, export-oriented livestock sector should be expedited.
