Snags in commercialisation
of livestock sector
By
Tahir Ali Khan
July 18, 2011: THE livestock sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
despite having great potential for poverty alleviation, has
not developed on commercial lines because of paucity of
funds, capacity and technology constraints.
While the share of livestock sector has been increased to
Rs0.6 billion or 45 per cent of Rs1.35 billion total
provincial agriculture budget, it not enough to care of the
development needs of the sector.
The agriculture budget forms only 1.59 per cent of the
provincial annual developmental programme whereas the share
of livestock sector stands at 0.7 per cent of the total ADP.
The distribution of this tiny budget over numerous projects
not only makes their timely completion impossible but also
deprives farmers of the fruits of development and research
initiatives for years.
For example, for the three ongoing schemes of livestock
extension needing Rs380 million, Rs127 million has been
allocated and for eight new programmes worth Rs1525million,
only Rs246 million has been made available for the year.
The Achai cow conservation and development plan worth
Rs222mn, which started in 2009, has been allocated a meagre
sum of Rs42 million for the year though it needed Rs141
million.
For another project of livelihood improvement through
strengthening of gender-based livestock interventions worth
Rs300 million, intended to provide female livestock farmers
with training, animal offspring, hens and better
communication, only Rs15million has been earmarked for this
year.
Development of improved poultry production, processing and
marketing models though public-private partnership in KP has
been launched with a total outlay of Rs300 million but only
Rs25mn has been released.
It is a problem of trying to achieve too many objectives
with a too little amount, but officials would not accept it.
A senior official of livestock and dairy development, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, declined to offer his comments saying it was a
policy questions beyond his domain.
He, however, said the funds for the ongoing schemes were
apportioned as per the demand of the department and that for
the new ones the allocation was usually low in the first
year of implementation.
The livestock extension has got Rs0.24 billion, livestock
research and development Rs0.27 billion and the veterinary
research institute Rs0.08 billion.
The important ongoing and new schemes of livestock extension
include establishment of dairy colonies in DIK, Peshawar and
Mardan; Achai conservation and development programme and
establishment and construction of veterinary dispensaries;
poverty alleviation through improved rural poultry
production in Mardan; gender-based livestock interventions
in rural areas; meat and dairy production/development with
market linkages and development of improvement of poultry
production under public-private partnership.
In the livestock research sub-sector, for four ongoing
projects, Rs207 million has been set aside while for five
new projects Rs68 million has been earmarked.
Important ongoing and new projects include strengthening and
development of poultry sector in Hazara division, barani
research institutes for goat and sheep in Kohat, pilot
projects for increasing milk and meat and establishment of
livestock research centre in Dir, projects for creation of
facilities for drugs residue determination, for introduction
of modern milking and milk-processing techniques, for
reproductive efficiency, for improvement of fodder and
forages in southern region and the goat/sheep research
centre in Swat.
A sum of Rs70 million will be spent for improving the local
goat species through cross-breeding with high-calibre
foreign goat species.
For the four ongoing and one new project of veterinary
research institute, Rs67 million and Rs16 million has been
allocated. The lone new project in this field is that of
poultry diseases investigation and vaccine production centre
in Peshawar.
Apart from the provincial ADP, the livestock sector in the
province has been allocated Rs5.2bn in the federal budget as
well. A sum of Rs2.1 billion has been earmarked for
upgrading district veterinary clinics, Rs0.8 billion for
rural poultry farming, Rs0.5 billion for upgrading the
Harichand farm, Rs0.4 billion for livestock extension
through female workers, Rs0.25bn for preservation and
development of local sheep in Hazara and Malakand, Rs0.5bn
for model dairy farms at divisional level, Rs0.8bn for
modern slaughter houses and Rs0.5bn for district diagnostic
laboratories.
The size of foreign assistance in the new ADP is over Rs16bn
but there is no project for the livestock sector. More than
90 per cent livestock is owned by small farmers who need
animal progeny and guidance but there is specific project
for them.
The government has yet to open model dairy, beef and poultry
farms in every district of the province despite making
promises to this effect.
Around 15 per cent of the milk produced is wasted during
collection process causing a loss of billions of rupees to
farmers. But despite this, neither of the public nor the
private sectors has made any worthwhile investment for
establishing a proper milk collection/preservation system,
chilling tanks and milk processing plants.
The provision of cheaper fodder/feed and soft loans to
livestock farmers, animal-fattening programmes, range
management for communal grazing, small enterprises for
compound feed manufacturing, evolution and promotion of high
yielding varieties of fodder crops and beef-breed
development etc, have been neglected.
Courtesy: The DAWN