'Veterinary doctors being posted in 80 districts'

Federal minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sikandar Hayat Bosan said on Saturday that veterinary doctors are being posted in 80 districts of the country under a programme worth Rs 1.69 billion, to promote the livestock sector.
"The government is fully aware of the importance of agriculture sector which contributes 50 percent to the GDP," he said addressing the first South Punjab Livestock & Poultry Convention organised by Pakistan Veterinary Medical Association (Multan Zone) at the Multan Arts Council.
Bosan said that the government's policy is aimed at enhancing profitability for growers, increasing their agricultural production and making crop production competitive for export.
"We know that prosperity and improvement in socio-economic conditions of rural populac rely heavily on profitability for the farmers, and all our efforts are directed to achieve this objective," he added.
He said that the President and the Prime Minister were giving priority to the uplift of agriculture and its sub sectors like livestock, adding that the dairy development programme to bring about a 'white revolution' and crop maximisation were testimonies to this fact.
He said that 40 percent work on lining of water courses across the country has been completed to date under the Rs 66 billion national programme for irrigation reforms.
The minister observed that past regimes had badly neglected irrigation uplift, and that only five percent of the work undertaken by this government, was completed during the last fifty year period before this government took over.
Sikandar Bosan said that Middle East countries can become profitable markets for Pakistani dairy products and meat adding that country's livestock sector has the potential to grow further and meet the quality demands of selected international markets.
Bosan said that a Pakistan Dairy Development Company (PDDC) and dairy development board have been formed. He said that 125 cattle farms have been set up under the PDDC initiative and they have set a target of 2500 farms to be established in the country.
He said that work on dairy board formation has been completed in Punjab and NWFP while it will be done in Sindh and Balochistan within next two months. He said that international experts were working with the provincial governments to give a boost to livestock sector and a big farm consisting of 5000 cattle heads has started operation in Sindh.
He admitted that loan advancements from banks were low for livestock sector as compared to other businesses but added that it showed increasing trend during the tenure of present government. He said that loans worth Rs 1.8 billion were advanced for livestock sector in 2004-05, Rs 4.5 billion in 2005-06 and 10.6 billion in 2006-07.
He disclosed that federal government has allocated Rs 1 billion to tackle the problem of bird flu in the country and assured that poultry diagnostic laboratories will be set up in Multan and Rahimyar Khan. He said that all the demands of Pakistan Poultry Association have been met with a view to developing poultry sector. He said that government's policies were aimed at extending benefits to small farmers which are 92 per cent of the total farming community in the country.
He said that only 6.5 per cent farmers are those having land holding of 25 to 35 acres while 1.5 per cent have land holding above this level. He said that the government was paying Rs 15 billion subsidy on fertilisers and has recently announced 25 per cent subsidy in power tariff for agriculture tube well connections adding that small farmers were the main beneficiaries of this relief and many other initiatives offered by the government.
Sikandar Bosan said that the government has allocated Rs 16 billion for uplift of agriculture sector under the PSDP, many times above the allocation made by the past regimes. He said that agriculture sector showed a phenomenal growth during last three to four years with major and minor crops including cotton, rice, wheat, maize, potato and gram showing their record production.