Ban on export of live animals opposed

M RAFIQUE GORAYA

LAHORE: Livestock farmers and breeders have strongly opposed ban or restrictions on the export of live animals as demanded by tanneries, leather industry and meat merchants.

Talking to Business Recorder here on Thursday Director Livestock and Breeders Association Naeemullah Malik said that it was extremely important to value the views of the livestock farming sector which consists mainly (95%) of small farmers.

This sector contributes about 11 percent to the GDP. By forcing the livestock farmers to ensure cheap raw material for an inefficient industry & the affluent urban consumers is not acceptable to the livestock farming community. In the absence of the Federal Livestock Ministry it is more important that such policies are initiated in consultation with the major stakeholders i.e. the livestock farmer in this case, he added.

Another Director of the Association Mian Rahat Khan said that in fact this ban will deprive the livestock farmers from getting fair price for their product and result in increasing inefficiencies in the value added sector.

He said the prices of inputs for fodder production have doubled in one year. The leather industry cannot be protected at the cost of millions of livestock farmers. The number of cattle & buffaloes in the country are around 70 million heads, the sheep, goat population is around 96 million. The loss of 1.5 million cattle in recent floods is an exaggerated figure, which is negligible in comparison to the total population of these animals. Some sectors have ill advised the government and suggested a ban on export of live animals, Khan added.

The association urged the government to review the matter in the light of the concerns of the livestock farmers and the long-term economic interests of the country. It further emphasised that all future policy recommendations regarding the livestock sector should be formulated only after consultations with the provincial departments and livestock farmer associations.

It may be added that meat merchants and representatives of the leather industry had demanded of the government to ban live animal exports especially to Iran and Afghanistan in the post flood scenario to prevent shortage of meat and animal skins/hides for the value added industry.

The leather industry representatives claim that there was a continuous decline in the availability of skins because of an acute shortage of animals in the country. The total skins collection in the country in 2010 was half of the figure for 2006.

"The industry got over 17 million skins in 2006, 15 million in 2007, 13 million in 2008, nine million in 2009 and only eight million in 2010." The decline in skins availability was almost equal to the fall in Pakistan's leather exports in last few years, they added.