December 16, 2015
Poultry to become Pakistan''s biggest industry
Pakistan''s biggest industry may likely be poultry, given the drastic decline of cotton in 2015, The Express Tribune reported a university official as saying.
During the first session of the International Seminar on Poultry Diseases, organised jointly by the Department of Pathology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) and World Veterinary Poultry Association, Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan pointed that climate change and diseases had ruined crops, leading to a four million bales loss of cotton.
The damages amounted to a drop of up to 30%.
This development would push up poultry''s position among different industries in Pakistan from its current second placing.
"Poultry is the most affordable source of animal protein for the consumers, contributing 40% to the country''s total meat consumption," Dr. Khan, the vice chancellor of UAF, said. He also revealed UAF''s establishment of a PKR600 million (US$6 million) government-funded sub-campus in Toba Tek Singh for poultry development.
Dr. Talat Pasha, the former vice chancellor of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, discussed the importance of meeting international standards through disease control.
Identifying Pakistan''s export potential for poultry, Dr. Pasha said that the agriculture sector needs to deal properly with various challenges to maintain food security in the country.
The Pakistani poultry industry provides jobs to 1.6 million people in the country and worth PKR700 billion (US$6.7 billion). According to Hanif Zaher, the president of the Pakistan Veterinary Poultry Association, Pakistan is ranked seventh as having the biggest poultry industry in the world.