Larkana: The 7th edition of Livestock Dairy Fisheries Agriculture Exhibition and Seminar 2018 commenced here on Saturday.
The Commissioner Larkana Abbas Baluch inaugurated the event at the Shehr-e-Benazir, Larkana, said a statement issued here. Chairperson Sindh Board of Investment/ Sindh Enterprise Development Fund Ms. Naheed Memon, Chief Executive Officer SEDF Mehboob ul Haq, Director Admin, Abrar Ahmed Shaikh and other officials were also present at the opening.
The organizers said that this year LDFA attracted a lot more participants and visitors including foreign and domestic businessmen and investors, banking and investment professionals, representatives of federal and provincial government ministries and departments and a large a number of graduating students from SAU Tando Jam and its affiliated college in Larkana.
Commissioner Larkana Abbas Baluch while opening said “We aimed to boost and strengthen coordination among different sectors included corporate sector, technological solutions, growers/farmers, investors, diplomatic missions and academia of Agriculture Universities of Sind”.
Chairperson, Sindh Board of Investment/ Sindh Enterprise Development Fund Ms. Naheed Memon said Sindh can play a vital role to ensure food security and development of the agriculture sector and we are focused on the potential of agriculture as Sindh’s Economy is directly and indirectly linked with the agriculture sector.
Sindh has immense untapped potential and we can increase our share of the agri produce. However, it provides 40% of employment to our labor force and contributes 20% in GDP of the country. In the context of livestock, 27% buffaloes, 26% cattle, 25% sheep, 30% camels and 40% poultry population in Pakistan, is found in Sindh, she added.
“Total output in Pakistan, Sindh produces 40% of the rice, 26% of sugarcane, 15% of wheat, and 25% of the cotton. Major horticulture crops are mangoes, bananas and red chilies. Of the total output, Sindh produces 90% of chilies, 85% of bananas, 45% of Dates, 35% of tomatoes, 15% of guavas and 25% of the mangoes. Sindh also has cultivable land under usage for fodder, pulses, condiments, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables”, she cited the statistics.
Meanwhile, highlighting the importance of LDFA 2018 Chairperson Sindh Board of Investment/ Sindh Enterprise Development Fund Ms. Naheed Memon revealed that as a result of agriculture business promotion in Sindh the last Six LDFAs cumulatively materialized business/commercial deals amounting to Rs. 2 billion and boosted up the agrarian economy of Sindh.
She said there is a huge potential in the Livestock, Dairy and Fisheries sector in Sindh as Pakistan ranks as 5th largest milk producer, with 40 billion liters produced annually out of which only a small fraction is processed.
Chief Executive Officer SEDF Mehboob-ul-Haq stated that the government of Sindh is committed to promote dairy sector not only for food security but also to improve value addition and value chain.
He said in this regard the objectives of LDFA 2018 include: to position Sindh as an economically viable province by identifying the areas/locations for investment in LDFA sectors; to engage the financial institutions and investors for the establishment and promotion of agriculture sectors. “And to provide confidence to the foreign and local investors; to highlight investment opportunities in agriculture sectors of Sindh.—APP