Halal food production technology to boost exports

[LahoreEstate]

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
By our correspondent

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Livestock and Dairy Development has introduced Halal food production technology and certification system to capture the Halal food market, which will help increase the country’s exports, especially to Muslim countries, said the ministry’s Secretary Mohammad Ali Afridi on Monday.

Briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Livestock and Dairy Development which met here, Afridi said the government has introduced a programme to support people living in rural areas under the public-private partnership programme. Under that, the government would provide subsidy of 60 per cent to cattle and fish farmers on establishing farms.

“About 30-35 million rural population is engaged in the livestock business, while one million people were connected with the fisheries,” he added.He informed the committee that the government has also launched a programme to extend livestock production and extension services at farmers’ doorsteps under the Prime Minister’s Special Initiative for Livestock.

In the first step, about seven districts in Balochistan are being covered, while a mass-scale vaccination and de-warming programme has been started in Khuzdar district. The secretary disclosed that his ministry has initiated 11 projects at a cost of Rs11.69 billion under the Public Sector Development Programme. Seven projects pertain to livestock development, while four are in the field of fisheries, he added.

He informed the committee that in order to enhance livestock production and its exports, the government is giving priority to improvement of infrastructure facilities for value added products. Planning, monitoring and evolution, and WTO wings are also being established in the ministry to improve the production of livestock, he added.

He said that 2000 veterinarians and veterinary assistants, along with more than 3500 livestock farmers including 500 women, were provided short term training in livestock farming, while 6 were provided high level training from European universities.

Committee members appreciated the efforts of the ministry and appreciated its efforts considering the short period of time. They stressed that the vaccination system should be improved further and services to farmers should be provided at their door steps to save livestock from diseases. The committee will meet again on June 5th to discuss the development of fisheries.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=179472