First instalment of Rs 12 million for ostrich farming project released

The Punjab Livestock & Dairy Development Department (L&DDD) has received the first trenches of Rs 12 million from the provincial finance department to launch 'ostrich farming' in the province with the objectives of addressing food security through sharing the load on meat and beef in the country and generate exportable high-valued surplus meat.
Sources in the L&DD Department told Business Recorder here on Wednesday that practically work on this project had already been launched and recently the department in collaboration with the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), which is partner of the department for implementation of this project, arranged an orientation seminar for those who are already in this field. Our objective was to acquaint these ostrich farmers with the scheme and incentives attached to it.
The ostrich farming is an emerging and innovative business being 10 times rapid provider of white meat compared to poultry and 15 times faster than traditional cattle farming. At the moment ostrich farming is a huge industry in the USA, Australia, Europe and some countries in Middle East like Jordan, Lebanon and Israel. More than 30,000 ostrich farms of different sizes are fully functional globally.
Due to high nutritional value of its meat as compared to other white, red meat and high Food Conversion Ratio (FCR), it is a source of faster and cheaper food, the sources said. Basic theme of the project is to engage, educate, motivate and support local farmers for ostrich farming. For the purpose, livestock/ostrich farmers throughout Punjab will be selected and supported in this livestock business. The selected farmers will purchase ostrich chicks from any source as per their convenience and rear them at their facility.