The University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore held a post-budget dialogue on Tuesday where various industry-stakeholders from poultry, dairy, meat, and leather sectors
The University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore held a post-budget dialogue on Tuesday where various industry-stakeholders from poultry, dairy, meat, and leather sectors and senior university faculty discussed the current budget’s implications for livestock sector.
UVAS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr. Nasim Ahmad along with Animal Husbandry Commissioner Dr Muhammad Akram co-chaired the session. The dialogue participants lauded the exemption of import duties on agricultural machinery and several other initiatives of the government. However, it was noted that the current budget largely maintains the status quo and it is devoid of any notable initiative to ameliorate the woes of livestock sector. It was suggested that allocations for livestock sector should be enhanced keeping in view the mammoth contribution of the sector in the GDP. The dairy sector should be given industry status and duties on imported milk should be increased to protect local farmers who are facing increasing pressure from rising costs of production. It was underscored that there is need for significant policy and budgetary initiatives to ensure the viability of livestock business in order to stop small and medium farmers from quitting livestock farming.
Further, to cope with rising cost of imported supplies, there is need to gear up on initiatives for localization of soybean and other hitherto imported inputs. It was also noted that delaying the sales tax refunds is soaking up the working capital of corporate dairy businesses and is increasing their cost of business. The timely implementation of minimum pasteurization law should be ensured and there is dire need for livestock census. Farmer trainings and awareness initiatives should be undertaken to increase livestock productivity and to avoid loss of valuable materials to leather industries caused by various skin related diseases. The participants also highlighted the need for special initiatives to counter supply chain bottlenecks and market distortions caused by Ukraine war.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Muhammad Akram lauded the role of UVAS for arranging post budget dialogues every year and providing platform to stakeholders for discussing challenges facing the livestock sector. He also suggested that arranging pre-budget dialogues in coming years to provide timely inputs for budget preparations. UVAS Vice Chancellor Prof Nasim Ahmad said that UVAS is playing the leading role of a think-tank for livestock sector and is arranging such debates for the larger benefit of society. Earlier, Prof Dr Rana Muhammad Ayyub, Chairman UVAS Business School and Director CAPRIL, offered a detailed presentation explaining current budgetary initiatives for livestock sector.