LAHORE
WITH a view to increasing milk
production and alleviating poverty from the rural areas, the federal
government will establish 400 community model farms at an estimated
cost of Rs 3.5 billion.
This was stated by Federal Minister
for Livestock and Dairy Development Mir Humayun Aziz Kurd while
addressing a press conference at the University of Veterinary and
Animal Sciences (UVAS) on Saturday.
The minister said that the
government had already released Rs 400 million for this project under
which the government would set up one each model farm in selected
villages. “Each of these model farms will be equipped with a chiller
tank, transportation facility for milk and will be given special feed
to increase the milk production besides assisting in marketing,” he
added. He said that the government would also acquire the cooperation
of the provincial governments to utilise their infrastructure,
including veterinary hospitals, to make this scheme a success.
“Federal
government has also launched ‘Halal Food Certification’ project worth
Rs 1.5 billion, as it will help boost the export of meat and earn
foreign exchange,” he maintained. He observed that the world over,
trend of using Halal meat was increasing significantly. Pakistan, he
added, being a Muslim country, could play an important role in this
regard.
He said that the government had launched Rs 10 billion
projects including one aimed at increasing the production of camels. He
maintained that a project of the Punjab government was already underway
in this regard and the federal government would collaborate in this
regard. He said that total cost of this project would be Rs 1.5
billion. Kurd said several measures had been taken to eradicate
bird-flu from poultry sector. “Efforts in this regard had resulted in
containing this menace, as not a single case had been reported this
year,” he observed, adding export of poultry meat from Pakistan
continued.
Referring to fisheries sector, Federal Minister for
Livestock and Dairy Development said special attention was being paid
to increasing production in this sector through promoting aquaculture
in coastal areas as well as inland farming in collaboration with the
public and private sectors.
He said that the government would soon also introduce a project for setting up fisheries farms in brackish water.
Another
project, he added, had been launched to set up model farms at fallow
lands where abundant underground water was available. The estimated
cost of the project is to the tune of Rs 500 million.
Speaking
on this occasion, Punjab Secretary Livestock and Dairy Development
Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan said training was being imparted to dairy
farmers about selling value-added milk. He said that the federal
government had resources and the provincial government had offered its
infrastructure to improve the living standard of livestock farmers. He
added that 20 sheds in Cholistan area were being set up by provincial
government.
He said that the livestock farmers were being
quoted price of their milk by milk-processing companies at Rs 30 per
liter instead of Rs 18 due to setting up of these milk collection
sheds.
Vice Chancellor, UVAS, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Nawaz also
spoke about the activities of the university and called for paying
attention towards improving the nutrition of the animals. He said that
by improving this aspect we could increase our present production.
Federal
Minister Mir Humayun Aziz Kurd also attended a function arranged by the
Punjab wing of the Livestock and Dairy Development Board (LDDB).
