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Summary
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has directed the Ministry of Livestock and Dairy Development to formulate National Livestock and Dairy Development Policy which should incorporate short, medium and long term operational strategies. He called for the need to adopt modern management techniques to make this sector a profitable agriculture industry. The Prime Minister expressed these views while chairing a briefing on livestock and dairy development at the Prime Minister Secretariat Thursday. The Prime Minister said that Livestock and Dairy Development contributes 12% to the national GDP and provides employment to over 30 million people in rural Pakistan therefore it should not be neglected. The ministry must make concerted efforts to overcome the multiple challenges like low genetic potential of indigenous breeds, poor quality of feed and fodder, inadequate disease surveillance, weak reporting and prevention systems, lack of storage and preservation infrastructure and poor marketing, he said. The Prime Minister said the creation of a separate ministry of livestock and dairy development is a clear recognition of the importance of this sector by the present government. While assuring full government support, the Prime Minister emphasized the need for public and private sectors investment and a long term policy commitment towards actualizing the true poverty alleviation potential since livestock and dairy development is one of the most under developed sectors of agriculture.
