Message of Minister Agriculture, Livestock: Mr. Mohibullah Khan

It is a great honor for me to write some words about livestock, fisheries & Cooperative Department for the website of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries & Cooperative Department, Govt: of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Peshawar. Pakistan being an Agricultural based Economy has a great potential in Livestock & Fisheries.Livestock Sector occupies a unique position in the socio-economic development of the country. It plays important role in the rural economy, as supplementing family incomes and generating gainful employment in the rural population, particularly among the landless laborers, small farmers and women. 30-35 million rural populations are engaged in livestock raising, having household holdings of 2-3 cattle/buffalo and 5-6 sheep/goat per family which help them to drive 30-40% of their income from livestock. Dairy, Meat and Poultry are the major sectors of livestock. 

Livestock contributes approximately more than 55 % to the agriculture value added and more than 10% to national GDP and is increasing year to year. The livestock provides nutritional food such as milk, meat, eggs,butter and cheese for human beings. Livestock sub-sector is vital for the economy as it provides essential raw material such as hides, skins, wool, animal hair & bones for some of the domestic industries like carpets, rugs, leather and footwear etc. The main strategy of Livestock Department (Research & Extension Wings) is to focuses on genetic improvement of breeds of livestock, increased development of feed and fodder resources, development and production of Vaccines; eradication of diseases, state of the art slaughter houses; improved storage and processing of livestock products; access to markets and investment in infrastructure; automation of milk collection and establishing chilling and milk powder units through local dairy cooperatives , increasing efficiency, transparency, and fairness; procession and preservation of milk,and preventing spoilage; improvement in marketing of livestock and livestock products, regulation extending credit especially to women for livestock development.Poultry is the 2nd largest industry and one of the most organized and vibrant segments of the agriculture industry of Pakistan. This sector generates employment and income for about 1.5 million people. Poultry meat contributes 28.5% of the total meat production in country.

Fishery is also a sub-sector of agriculture. Its playing a significant role in the national economy by reducing pressure on demand for mutton, brief and poultry. It contributes on an average about 0.3% to the total GDP and 1.3% to agriculture. It is estimated that about 400 thousand fishermen and their families are dependent upon the fisheries for their livelihood. The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is now making every effort to improve fisheries sector. These include strengthening of infrastructure facilities, introduction of aquaculture techniques, improvement in post-harvest techniques; up gradation of economic conditions of the fishermen etc.The need of the time is to educate people more and more and making them realize to take Livestock, Poultry and Fisheries as their core business rather only keeping it as a byproduct of Agriculture, so that we might enjoy the full fruit of this Potential Sector.