The growing livestock farming
By Dr Sardar Riaz
A.Khan
Livestock is the second important sector of agriculture. While
the share of agriculture in GDP declined from 26 in 1986-87
to 24 per cent in 2003-04, the share of livestock went up
from eight to 11.4 per cent during that period.
In
other words, the share of livestock in agriculture increased
from 30 to 48 per cent. Its foreign exchange earnings
increased to Rs53 billion in 2003-04 which is 12.34 per cent
of the total national export earnings as compared to its
share of 5.3 per cent in 2001-02. Despite the neglect of
livestock sector, its share in GDP and that of agriculture
as well as of export earnings increased.
Pakistan is rich in its major livestock wealth as is evident
from its population growth as shown in Table 1:
Increase of livestock population between 1960-61 to 2002-03
Livestock 1960-61 2002-03 Increase
(million in numbers)
Baffloes 8.2 24.8 16.6
Cattle 16.4 23.3 6.9
Goats 10.4 52.8 42.4
Sheep 12.4 24.6 12.2
Camels 0.4 0.8 0.4
Donkeys 1.4 4.0 2.6
Horses 0.3 0.3 0.0
Mules 0.1 0.2 0.1
(1966-67)
Total 49.6 130.8 81.2
Source: Economic Survey 2002-03, Statistical Supplement .
It is evident from Table 1 , that there was significant
increase in the population of livestock, especially goats,
buffaloes, sheep and cattle in the given order. Although,
there was increase in the population of camels and bovines,
but this increase except that of donkeys was not significant
.Because their population was below one million in 1960-61
and it remained below one million even after 43 years in
2002-03.
Similarly the data of live stock products from 1971-72 to
2002-03 is given in Table 2 .
Increase in livestock products
Livestock 1971-72 2002-03 Increase products
(000 tons)
Milk 7800.0 27611.0 20011.0
Beef 346.0 1060.0 714.0
Mutton 208.0 702.0 494.0
Poultry
meet 14.0 372.0 358.0
Wool 22.1 39.7 17.6
Hair 2.9 19.9 17.0
Bones 152.0 348.0 196.0
Fat 45.8 129.7 83.9
Blood 14.2 44.0 29.8
(million numbers)
Egg 583.0 7991.0 7408.0
Hides 4.3 8.2 3.9
Skins 16.4 40.3 23.9
Source: Economic Survey 2002-03. Statistical Supplement
It is evident from Table 2,that there was significant
increase in livestock products such as milk ,beef ,mutton
poultry meat and eggs etc .But inspite of significant
increase in milk production mostly due to increase in the
number of buffaloes ,cattle and milk breeds of goats and
sheep ,the import of milk and milk bye-products increase
from Rs226 million in 1978-79 to Rs770 million in 2002-03.
Again, most of the big cities are facing shortage of meat
due to smuggling of animals and meat to Afghanistan and
Middle Eastern countries ,besides their export to these
countries as well. This has not only caused meat deficiency
in the big cities resulting in persistent increase in meat
prices. For instance, due to such shortage of meat in
Karachi ,animals were smuggled from India in 2002 .The
situation was further compounded due to decline in supply of
animals from Thar. Such shortage of meat and consequent
price hike was also experienced in the twin cities of
Rawalpindi and Islamabad during this period. It has been
reported that government is now considering to import
animals from India
This shows mismanagement that prevails in the sector as well
as in case of crop sector suggesting that both these sectors
of agriculture need attention of policy makers on top
priority basis for immediate planning on sound economic
parameters for attaining self sufficiency.
Presently, livestock is the major economic activity of small
and landless farmers ,tenants , sedentary ,nomadic and
transhumance herders for their survival The major buffalo
breeds are Nili-Ravi and Kundi ,while Sahiwal and Red Sindhi
are the dominant milk breeds .Of the draught cattle Bhagnari
and Dajal are heavy breeds ,Dhani and Lohani are medium ,
Rohani and Rojan are light breeds ,while Thari is a dual
breed both for milk and draught purposes .
There are around 31 breeds of goats which are raised mainly
for milk, meat, skin, hair manure etc. Some of these breeds
reared for specific purposes are Betal, Dera Din Panah,
Jattan and Kamori mainly for milk, while Chamber, Shurri,
Damani, Nachi, Potwari and Khurassani, Sindh Desi, Tapri
mainly for milk and meet.
Similarly, Kaghani, Hairy Goat, Lehri, Desi(Jattal) and
Burgi mostly for meat and hair, while Kooti, Buchi, Labri,
Gaddi, Kajli, Chappar and Tharki mainly for meat, milk and
hair. Likewise,Teddy Pateri and Barbari are primarily raised
for meat.
In Northern areas due to severe cold weather ,shortage of
food ,feed and burning material for warmth and cooking ,the
Baltistani ,Jarakhel , Koai Ghizar and Piameri breeds of
goats are used for mutton, milk, hair and dung to supplement
animal dung for cooking and warming up as well as manure .
Similarly, there are nearly 30 breeds of sheep, out of which
16 are thin-tailed and 14 are fat-tailed sheep. They are
raised for different purposes depending upon the breeds such
as mutton, wool, milk, fat, manure etc Again, camel is one
of the most neglected animal in spite of its great
importance in our arid, semi-arid regions, it is a valuable
source of milk, meat, skin hair. fuel, bones, ploughing,
riding and transportation in these regions where other
sources are negligible or not sufficient. And yet, there is
not a single camel research institute in the country.
Camel and its by-products have great potential of their
export to Middle East ,Africa and other countries. Policy
makers and planners of livestock development should
seriously consider to establish a national camel research
institute in Thal, Cholistan, Thar and Chagai-Kharan based
on technical and socio-economic parameters as has been done
by India at Bikaner in their Rajisthan desert .
Thus, there is great potential of livestock development. The
major problem areas are livestock management, breeding,
feeding, health, marketing, besides education and training
of livestock holders through effective livestock extension
services.
Fortunately, various advanced technologies in these areas
are already well established. But the need of the time is to
effectively apply them at grass root level. For instance,
there is no significant interaction between veterinary
extension staff and livestock Thus there is need of
strengthening of efficient free veterinary services. Again
instead of importing bulls from abroad, the high pedigree
bulls of Nili-Ravi, Sahiwal and Red Sindhi breeds should be
used for improving buffaloe and cow yields of milk.
Likewise, most of the livestock farmers are not well aware
that dry roughages like that of wheat, rice, barley straw,
rice husk, stalk of maize, sorghum ,millet,pods and straw of
pulses ,oilseed etc could be treated with urea and molasses
to increase nutritive value of these roughages. Yields of
fodder and its availability for a longer period should also
be increased by growing high yielding varieties of fodders
and following suitable crop rotations Similarly rain-fed
fodder and roughage yields can be significantly increased by
following modern rain water harvesting techniques.
The draught cattle should be replaced by high yielding
Nili-Ravi buffaloes, Sahiwal and Red Sindhi cows to increase
milk yield. Presently dairy farms are mostly in urban areas
,these should also be extended to rural areas as well.
Most of the ruminants, especially the small ones are kept on
depleted rangelands.The prevailing sedentary, transhumance
and nomadic overgrazing systems are the major cause of
depletion of rangelands. Hence rangeland management needs
multidisciplinary approach such as classification;
determination of carrying capacity of stocking rate;
deferred and rotational grazing; reseeding of rangelands;
development of drinking water for livestock; Silvi-pastural
management; forage conservation during lean periods ;use of
urea-molasses models ;removal and burning of undesirable
plant species; establishing of demonstration farms; mobile
extension units; credit and other similar services.
Courtesy:
The DAWN
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