Pakistan's livestock sector holds significant development potential but suffers from historical neglect, limited investment, and structural challenges. The sector contributes 55% to agricultural production, providing income and employment to millions, yet faces issues such as low profit margins, informal operations, and external threats like climate change and disease. A comprehensive policy is needed to enhance productivity, sustainability, and profitability, while also safeguarding indigenous livestock and improving local infrastructure and support systems.

1. Shahid Hussain Raja
Author/Consultant/Trainer
Cambridge. UK
www.shahidhussainraja.com

2.  Introduction
 Livestock/Dairy Sector-Significance
 Livestock/Dairy-Sector Profile
 SWOT Analysis
 Challenges
 Response
 Conclusion

3.  Pakistan's livestock sector has a great potential for its development due to its rich
inheritance of different species of animals, domesticated thousands of years ago and
the love for these animals among the people
 Its slow development is a cumulative result of decades of neglect and
underinvestment, a weak policy and regulatory framework, production and
productivity problems, marketing issues etc
 These problems, plus the fact that it is a secondary activity for farmers, contributed to
low rates of return on investment that consequently fail to attract new investment.
 This presentation explains the ground realities about the livestock sector of Pakistan
and suggests a strategy to develop this sector to its full potential

4.  Despite its relative decline in formal economy in percentage terms,
agriculture is still dominant sector in overall economic structure
 Pakistan’s survival and growth are directly dependent on its
agriculture due to its socio-political interconnectedness and its
economic and financial linkages-backward and forward
 Its performance still dictates all our macro indicators - GDP,
Poverty, External Balance, Inflation etc

5.  Total area of Pakistan is approximately 80 million hectares out of which about
58 million hectares have been surveyed so far by the Soil Survey of Pakistan
 According to them, the area under cultivation is 22 million hectares (38%) out of
which nearly 19 million hectares is irrigated; the rest is rain fed
 The area under forest is 4 million hectares (7%) and the balance surveyed area 8
million hectares can be classified as the cultivable waste
 Coupled with suitable climate and availability of fairly good water resources,
agriculture has been the major activity for centuries in this part of the world

6.  Agriculture sector of Pakistan comprises four sectors - livestock,
crop, forest and fisheries
 Livestock contributes 55% of the total agriculture production while
crop sector adds 38% to it out of which the contribution of major
crops is 25% and minor crops is 13%
 Fisheries and forestry contribute 2% each
 Around 8 million families, consisting of 40 million people are
dependent on farming and allied activities n the rural areas

7.  Human Food Source: Animals are very good source of high quality
protein-rich food, essential micronutrients for humans, make food
balanced and nutritious by converting inedible protein found in
forage into humanly digestible form
 Animal Feed Source: Poultry manure used for ruminant feeding,
generate algae as a feed for fish. Slaughterhouse wastes, when
processed, make a good source of protein (offal and viscera) and
mineral (bones) supplements in animal feeds.
 Saving/investment Source: livestock important means of saving,
capital investment, providing higher return, easily sold when
needed

8.  Income/Employment Source: Livestock farming is a labour-intensive
activity for males as well as females. Even feasible to earn side
income for farmers with no land of their own/small land holding.
 Draught Energy Source: Most of the animals are used by the
farmers to carryout agricultural operations for pulling agricultural
implements, pumping irrigation water and skidding in forests.
 Fuel Energy Source: cow dung is highly valued as fuel for cooking
and heating Biogas production from manure is an excellent
substitute for fossil fuel or fuel wood for farmers in rural areas.
 Fertilizer Source :Crop residues more efficiently utilized through
ruminant feeding, including production of organic manure for fields

9.  Pakistan has a lot of potential because variety in land and climate provides ample
opportunities for raising of a wide range of small and large animals
 Large number of indigenous animals are reared while there is scope for
commercial production of exotic animals. In some animals, Pakistan occupies
prominent world position in terms of production i.e.5th largest producer of milk,
 The sector is informal, profit margin is low and land holdings are small which has
diverted investment to other sectors. Lack of financial resources and high
interest rates of financial services available have further retarded its growth
 Approximately35 million rural population is engaged in livestock raising and are
deriving 30-40% of their income from this sector which contributes 55% to
agricultural production and 11.2 % of export earnings of the country.

10. Name of animal Number of animals(Millions)
Cattle 37
Buffalo 33
Sheep 28
Goat 63
Poultry 721 Billion

11. Product Name Quantity (annual production) Millions
Milk 37.25
Meat (Total) 3.15
Beef 1.72
Mutton 0.62
Poultry 0.77
Eggs 12.5 (billions )

13.  Availability of vast barren land for grazing of animals and
cultivated land for their feed
 Vast number and variety of large and small animals for meat, milk
and poultry
 Extremely favourable terrain and climate for raising of every type
of animals-exotic and indigenous
 Centuries of accumulated knowledge about good livestock
practices among the people who love animals

14.  Landlessness and small land holding prevents farmers to raise
livestock on commercial basis, mainly subsistence farming
 Limited knowledge/facilities for veterinary services in rural areas
 Almost for every farmer, livestock farming is a secondary activity
and not the main occupation, thus giving secondary importance

15.  Increasing population and rising prosperity is fueling the demand
for animal based food
 Growing global/regional demand for high quality Pakistani meat
 There is rapidly emerging niche market for Halal food which can
be profitably utilized
 Increasing interest of local/foreign investors in food industry
including livestock

16.  Reduced areas for natural grazing and feed production in the face of
increasing urbanisation and food security crops requirements
 Trans-boundary diseases in the wake of increased imports of exotic
animals for cross breeding
 Rising food safety concerns of the developed countries can be a threat
for export of livestock
 Wholesale slaughter and smuggling is fast depleting the gene pool of
the livestock in the country
 Climate change and environmental degradation

17. How to ensure adequate supply of safe, quality livestock
and dairy products on sustainable basis at affordable
prices to meet their growing demand from a rapidly
increasing and becoming prosperous population in the
backdrop of looming threat of climate change and
environmental degradation

18.  We need to formulate a comprehensive livestock policy which should
indicate the broad direction for this sector, create institutions and define
their respective roles, make rules for coordination, set safety standards
and provide an incentive and rewards system for various stake holders
 Government’s role should be confined to legislation, policy
development, regulation, capacity building and facilitation, while the
private sector should take the lead in investment and value chain
development on its own or on Public Private Partnership basis
 Within the national policy settings, livestock should be developed on the
basis of following five broad objectives;

19.  Increase productivity by increasing efficiency in all livestock/dairy
operations
 Increase profitability by rationalizing input and output prices and
ensuring fair returns to the farmers
 Making livestock/dairy produce competitive in the rapidly
globalizing world
 Ensuring sustainability by promoting environment friendly good
livestock practices
 Ensuring equitable distribution of gains from enhanced
productivity to all stakeholders

20.  Accelerating the national economic growth by increasing the rate of growth of
livestock, an important subsector of the economy
 Reducing the unemployment by creating job opportunities
 Increasing Pakistan's foreign exchange earnings by increasing quantity, quality and
variety of livestock exports
 Ensuring food security and nutritional balance of the people’s food intake by
providing them protein rich livestock products in their food
 Helping the state in its poverty alleviation efforts by providing them a labour
intensive, low capital intensive investment
 Improving the status of women by providing them opportunities to own resources

21.  Research, Development and Extension
 Skills Development
 Increasing the Production-Milk/Meat
 Inputs-genes, vaccines, credit
 Marketing and Value Addition
 Commercialisation
 Mechanisation
 Cross cutting issues

22.  Our agricultural Research& Development and Extension suffer from many structural
and management weaknesses-low funding, weak coordination and linkages among
research, education and extension, inadequate technical and professional capacities
of the agricultural research institutions, infrastructure etc
 Government should introduce need based agriculture education, create effective
inter/intra institutional linkages & collaboration with reputable foreign universities
 It should also promote demand driven quality based R&D and extension services by
encouraging public-private partnerships that are linked to livestock value chains
 Research and development programs must focus on finding solutions in terms of
increasing productivity, reduce burden of diseases and increase farmers’
profitability.

23.  Pakistan is woefully short of skilled manpower at all levels of livestock and dairy
industry- management, supervision and field.
 Skill development through in-service training at different R&D institutions can
enhance capabilities of extension staff. Such programs should be initiated in
agriculture universities and research institutes in all provinces
 Postgraduate programs in livestock and dairy management should help
providing skilled human resource for the industry.
 Skilled labor should be attracted and retained through competitive minimum
wages for the agricultural labor and the development of industry vocational
training programs

24.  Pakistan already ranks fifth largest producer of milk in the world despite its being an
informal sector, non commercial operations and low profit margins. This potential can
be doubled in five years by adopting an appropriate strategy.
 For this purpose more emphasis should be on productivity increase rather than
increasing the number of animals through indigenous genetic improvement and
import of high milk producing animals
 Local and foreign investment should be encouraged and directed towards
modernisation, commercialization ,diversification and value addition through proper
legal and regulatory framework, financial assistance and technical support
 Government should concentrate on two core areas-R&D plus Extension and improving
the infrastructure to ease the movement of milk and its products, reduce the costs of
doing business and hence increasing the profitability of this subsector

25.  Although Pakistan globally ranks very high in terms of number and quality of meat
animals, its exports ranking in this sector are abysmally low .Being an informal
sector, non commercial operations and low profit margins, its potential has not
been adequately exploited
 For this purpose emphasis should be placed on both-productivity increase as well
as increasing the number of animals through indigenous genetic improvement and
import of high meat producing animals
 Local and foreign investment should be encouraged and directed towards
modernisation, commercialization ,diversification and value addition through
proper legal and regulatory framework, financial assistance and technical support
 Government should concentrate on two core areas-R&D plus Extension and
improving the infrastructure to ease the movement of meat and its products, reduce
the costs of doing business and hence increasing the profitability of this subsector

26.  Wholesale slaughtering of animals to meet the growing domestic and export
needs plus unabated smuggling to neighboring countries are threatening the
indigenous species of our cattle, reducing their gene pool resource.
 Besides taking policy and programmes measures to preserve our indigenous
genetic pool, variety development and local production of good quality
genetic pool in the private sector be encouraged by providing them
appropriate legal cover and technical and financial support for establishing
partnerships between bio-tech research institutes and private companies
 Allowing import of high yielding animals, semen and embryos for
crossbreeding, expansion / improvement and modernization of laboratory
facilities to diagnose and treat livestock diseases are some other measures
to preserve and improve our indigenous stock

27.  There are various estimates of animal losses due to non-use of proper
veterinary medicines by the farmers. Fear, Ignorance and costs are the
main reasons for this neglect
 Government should popularize the efficient and judicious use of these
medicines for reducing production losses with minimum side effects on
human and animal
 It should also ensure timely availability of un-adulterated veterinary
medicines at reasonable prices to doorsteps of the farmers through
rationalisation of prices, in time import and provision of subsidy when

28.  Streamlining traditional informal sources of rural credit by
integrating them with formal banking system is the need of the day
 Making financial products tailor-made for small livestock farmers
and of micro, small and medium non-farm rural enterprises to
become efficiently linked to agri-based supply chains
 Increasing the volume and outreach of formal banking network for
timely and easy access to credit by farming community

29.  One biggest handicaps for development of livestock sector is absence of modern marketing
infrastructure on supply/demand side. Establish them on public-private partnership basis
 Value addition can increase the sectoral profitability and earn valuable foreign exchange for
the country for which the government has to come forward in a big way.
 Encouraging quality consciousness among farmers through awareness campaigns, introducing
and implementing grading standards and improving marketing system of agricultural produce
 Making agricultural produce globally competitive by enforcing SPS standards and introducing
international certifications are some of the measures needed for value addition
 Another niche market for value addition is the certification of Halal products which are
becoming very popular and their demand is increasing rapidly.

30. ◦ In order to achieve rapid growth in meat and milk production we will have to
convert this sector from a subsistence and side business to commercial and
mainstream activity through its shifting to market oriented enterprises
◦ Not only big commercial farms should be encouraged but small livestock
farmers be also given the same technology package and financial support
◦ Similarly females who normally rear these animals should be encouraged and
facilitated to own these farms on commercial basis
◦ Government should expand animal health service, allow duty free import of
veterinary dairy, and livestock machinery/equipment and also allow import of
feed inputs, vaccines etc at concessional rates

31.  Increasing its efficiency through mechanization by encouraging good practices
among farmers, incentivize them to use machines/equipment in operations
 Easy access of the farmers to essential livestock and dairy machinery by
facilitating private sector to open farm machinery leasing/hiring outlets in
villages instead of farmers owning these costly equipment themselves
 Expansion and modernization of local agricultural machinery manufacturing by
providing them training, incentives and technical/financial support to produce
agricultural and other implements as per international standards

33.  Increasing horizontal farming and urbanisation are gradually squeezing
the space traditionally reserved for animal grazing and rearing.
 Declining fertility of our agricultural lands due to non sustainable
agricultural practices plus degradation of lands due to water logging &
salinity, a negative side effect of our irrigation practices
 Lastly we are misusing our scarce land resources as we are cultivating
crops on lands extremely suitable for horticultural use
 Meed for formulating a long term comprehensive land use policy for
rational use of land resources to stop rapid conversion of valuable arable
land for non-farming purposes

34.  Agricultural transformation demands restructuring, not merely fine-
tuning, the political economy of the rural areas
 Improve the terms of trade between agriculture and the other sectors
of the economy so that the farmers get fair returns for their efforts
 Rationalize the prices of the inputs farmers use, provide subsidy on
them and as well as those of commodities they produce
 Selective procurement when prices of agricultural commodities crash
 introduction of crop/livestock insurance schemes are other methods
to improve the terms of trade of agriculture sector

35.  Replace the centuries old production relations of land cultivation in the rural
areas of Pakistan and introduce the three modern forms of farming
Contract farming-encouraging agri-based processors to supply inputs & technology packages to farmers on
deferred payment with buy-back of produce at guaranteed prices
Cooperative farming-facilitating the formation of rural cooperatives to improve the bargaining position of the
stakeholders and ensure their easy access to quality inputs at affordable prices at their doorsteps
Corporate farming-promoting lease of commercially viable tracts of land to corporate level entrepreneurs who are
willing to practice high-tech export oriented agriculture and share profits with the owners
 It needs comprehensive legislation about contract making/dispute resolution as
well as their strict implementation through a special institutional infrastructure

36.  Rural infrastructure i.e.roads, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure are in
deplorable condition in most of the towns and villages
 Adversely affects productivity but also results in increased costs of marketing,
high prices of inputs, reduced quality of rural life, disincentive for investment
 No doubt the government has invested a lot in farm to markets roads,
construction of health facilities, schools and also rural electrification.
 However there are complaints of substandard workmanship and their fast wear
and tear due to paucity of maintenance funds.
 Similarly there are complaints of shortage of staff to man these health and
educational schools.

37.  Urgent need to create awareness among farmers about looming threat of climate
change/environmental degradation which will adversely affect agriculture
 Popularize sustainable agricultural practices by synchroning extension services of
provincial agricultural departments and marketing outlets of the private agro
services providers to promote environment friendly practices
 Government should promulgation legislation for stopping of practices aggravating
the threat of climate change
 Allocate resources for research to develop varieties responsive to climate change
and environmental degradation

38.  Rural women are under three pressures-nature, society and family, all treat them
unfairly in terms of status, ownership of resources, job opportunities and empowerment
 Most important ways to improve their conditions is to improve healthcare and family
planning facilities in the rural areas to relieve them of excessive child bearing burden
 Launching of special rural female literacy and education campaign by offering attractive
monetary rewards would help in their empowerment and reduce domestic violence
 Ensuring women’s access to resources and assets, including ownership of land by
creating awareness about their rights and strict enforcement of legal framework priority
 Providing equitable opportunities to women by developing marketing oriented skills and
remunerative employment in the rural

39.  We need to enhance agricultural productivity at micro and macro
level by increasing efficiency in all its operations,
 Public as well as private sector investment in R&D, extension
services, rural infrastructure, marketing, value addition etc.
 Unfortunately, the flow of investment funds towards agriculture,
which has recently picked up, is still far below the desired levels.
 This needs to be increased to make livestock sector more dynamic

40.  Thank you for viewing the presentation
 If you liked it, can you please download its EBook version for US$
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 Kindly see the list of my articles available at my website in next few slides
40

41.  Pakistan’s Difficulties at the Time of her Independence
http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/pakistans-difficulties-at-the-time-of-her-independence/
 Why Countries Break? Case of Bangladesh
http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/why-countries-break-case-of-bangladesh/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/pakistans-13th-imf-programme-prospects-challenges/
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https://www.shahidhussainraja.com/federalism-in-pakistan-challengers-response/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/water-issues-in-pakistan/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/pakistani-culture-sources-drivers/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/improving-pakistans-global-image/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/is-pakistan-a-failed-state/
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(http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/the-scope-of-international-relations/)
 Modern Nation-state System: Challenges & Prospects
(http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/modern-nation-state-system-challenges-prospects/)
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(http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/foreign-policy-features-success-factors-challenges/)
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/clash-of-civilizations-a-critique/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/globalization-compressing-time-and-space-part-1/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/determinants-of-foreign-policy/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/foreign-policy-tools-instruments/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/world-peace-a-norm-or-an-aberration/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/end-of-history-by-francis-fukuyama-a-critique/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/global-terrorism-challenges-response/
http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/global-terrorism-challenges-response-part-2/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/war-on-terror-causes-course-costs-and-consequences-part-2/
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http://www.shahidhussainraja.com/imf-programme-does-it-help-a-developing-country/
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