ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Livestock and Dairy Development has
introduced Halal food production technology and certification system to
capture the Halal food market, which will help increase the country’s
exports, especially to Muslim countries, said the ministry’s Secretary
Mohammad Ali Afridi on Monday.
Briefing
the National Assembly Standing Committee on Livestock and Dairy
Development which met here, Afridi said the government has introduced a
programme to support people living in rural areas under the
public-private partnership programme. Under that, the government would
provide subsidy of 60 per cent to cattle and fish farmers on
establishing farms.
‘About 30-35 million rural population is
engaged in the livestock business, while one million people were
connected with the fisheries,’ he added.He informed the committee that
the government has also launched a programme to extend livestock
production and extension services at farmers’ doorsteps under the Prime
Minister’s Special Initiative for Livestock.
In the first step,
about seven districts in Balochistan are being covered, while a
mass-scale vaccination and de-warming programme has been started in
Khuzdar district. The secretary disclosed that his ministry has
initiated 11 projects at a cost of Rs11.69 billion under the Public
Sector Development Programme. Seven projects pertain to livestock
development, while four are in the field of fisheries, he added.
He
informed the committee that in order to enhance livestock production
and its exports, the government is giving priority to improvement of
infrastructure facilities for value added products. Planning,
monitoring and evolution, and WTO wings are also being established in
the ministry to improve the production of livestock, he added.
He
said that 2000 veterinarians and veterinary assistants, along with more
than 3500 livestock farmers including 500 women, were provided short
term training in livestock farming, while 6 were provided high level
training from European universities.
Committee members
appreciated the efforts of the ministry and appreciated its efforts
considering the short period of time. They stressed that the
vaccination system should be improved further and services to farmers
should be provided at their door steps to save livestock from diseases.
The committee will meet again on June 5th to discuss the development of
fisheries.
