CM’s Rs9b package to boost livestock sector: minister

LAHORE: Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Syed Ashiq Hussain has said Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s announcement for allocation of Rs9billion for the development of livestock sector in the upcoming fiscal year was good step.

The minister was speaking at a meeting held in the Livestock Department to review the progress on approved initiatives of chief minister in the Livestock Sector of Punjab here on Thursday.

Secretary Livestock Masood Anwar gave a briefing on the current status of initiatives including Livestock Cards, Foot and Mouth Disease Control Programme and the programme for the transfer of livestock assets to rural women. The minister said new era of development will be initiated while implementing this package. The minister directed for highlighting the achievements of the chief minister’s initiatives on Livestock Department’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube channels.

He stressed verification of all initiatives of the CM through Urban Unit Wing and mandatory third-party monitoring. He stressed ensuring personal verification of farmers in every village to certify the livestock cards on the basis of first come first serve.

He also directed Punjab IT Board to prepare a dashboard for real-time information on timelines of all programmes and other matters. Dealers and retailers list providing vanda, silage, and minerals should be provided to him on district-wise.

He endorsed that active surveillance and random sampling are being conducted under the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Programme. On this occasion, Secretary Livestock Punjab, Masood Anwar, stated that in the next two years, from 40,000 to 80,000 livestock farmers will be provided Rs 2 billion through Chief Minister Livestock Card, Rs7.5 billion in five years under the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Programme, and Rs 2 billion for the programme of transferring Livestock assets to rural women in the coming two years.

The meeting was attended by Secretary Livestock Punjab, Masood Anwar, DG Livestock (Extension) Asif Salman Sahi, DG (Production) Asif Rafique, representatives of Punjab Bank, Urban Unit, and Punjab IT Board.