LAHORE: The Punjab government is striving to make the best use of natural resources in the livestock sector and in this regard joint cooperation is needed in various fields to uplift the national economy.
Punjab Minister for Livestock Sardar Hasnain Bahadur Dareshak expressed these views on Saturday while chairing a consultative meeting, wherein officials of the Federal Ministry of National Food Security & Research were also represented. The aim was to formulate a national strategy to enhance the overall production of milk and meat.
The minister directed the authorities concerned to prepare a plan in collaboration with the federal government to enhance semen quality and production and further consultation was agreed in this regard. Dareshk said that all the individual efforts be channelised to facilitate decision-making for the development and promotion of the livestock sector.
In addition, consultation with private experts, research institutes and business representatives in breed improvement, vaccine production and other fields should be ensured, he further said.
During the meeting, Secretary Livestock Capt (retd) Saqib Zafar briefed about Punjab Livestock Growth Strategy and discussed the challenges which livestock sector is facing, including breed improvement, foot and mouth disease vaccine, FMD free zones, technology transfer and extension models.
He also briefed about the new initiatives taken at the provincial level including house job model, academic and research cooperation with Dalm University Denmark and upcoming livestock census.
The additional secretary Ministry for National Food Security assured all possible support for the betterment of the livestock sector and said that consultative meetings like this are of key importance in this regard.
The meeting was also attended by additional secretaries including livestock secretaries, director generals, pro-vice chancellor, animal husbandry commissioner, Corporate Dairy Farm Association representatives and other livestock experts.
