Director General Sindh Livestock and Fisheries Nazeer Hussain Kalhoro has said that the livestock sector’s contribution from the province is 27 percent. “There are about 1,207 natural water bodies for inland fisheries in Sindh and it makes about 35-40 percent income of 8 million rural families,” said Nazeer while speaking at DALFA Cattle Show that concluded at Karachi Expo Center.
He added that land was available for poultry and livestock farming in Sindh, as the province had huge consumption and market centres for livestock products. Talking about the current status of livestock opportunities, he informed that that the province had access to international markets by land, sea, and air. “The livestock sector in Sindh has the support of the pro-poor and farmer-friendly government with consistency in the political system and sustainability and policy.”
Nazeer stated that Sindh had a huge public sector infrastructure with more than 45 million domesticated livestock that included more than 18 breeds of goats and sheep. “There are disease-resistant and resilient breeds of cattle and a huge population of water buffaloes.” He added that a technical human resource was produced for the sector by higher education institutes, while labour was available at cheaper rates. The DG claimed that Sindh had highly fertile land, ranges, forests, rivers, and canals, with more yield of fodder versus Punjab.
Badar Expo Solutions organised the event in which more than 100 exhibitors participated. The key features of the show were seminar on milk value addition, technology advancement in milk processing and packaging, farm management, and animal health and nutrition, Haris Mithani, patron-in-chief of the Dairy Agriculture Livestock Farmers Association (DALFA) stated. He added that the show had provided farmers with awareness of government policies.