Call to curb smuggling for cheap animals on Eid

LAHORE: There is a need to curb the smuggling of animals to ensure availability of cheap sacrificial animals on Eidul Azha and cheap meat round-the-year while only surplus meat exports should be allowed as meat is getting out of the reach of the poor in Pakistan.

These views were expressed by the experts in the Jang Economic Session on ‘Sales and exports of sacrificial animals on Eidul Azha’. The panellists were Agha Syedain, Sajida Mir, Anjum Zafar Sheikh, Anees Arshad, Ch Majeed, and Saab Khan. The session was hosted by Sikandar Lodhi.

Agha Syedain said livestock sector contributes 11 percent to GDP and its current population is 190 million out of which 62.137 million or 32.6 percent would be slaughtered on Eidul Azha. He said almost Rs250 billions’ business will be generated on Eidul Azha while sacrificial animals’ hides contribute to the wellbeing of the lower income group, and philanthropy institutions. He suggested that the poor livestock farmers who brought animals to the urban centres for sale should be facilitated. He said hides and skin will fetch lower price this year due to 50 percent decline in international rates while almost Rs6.54 billion worth hides and skins are likely to come this year out of which 35 percent of almost Rs2.25 billion could be damaged in hot and humid weather. He asked the media to create awareness on the issue to benefit the philanthropy and welfare institutions that collect these hides and skins.

Sajida Mir said that purchase of beef and mutton was out of commoner’s reach due to escalated prices while middleman was getting benefits from sale of animals instead of small livestock farmers. She said only surplus meat should be exported so that public get cheap protein. She called for streamlining the livestock sector which is the second largest sector after agriculture.

Anjum Zafar Sheikh said corruption was rampant in all sectors in country due to appointment of incompetent people which was the reason behind the failure. He said millions of rupees worth animal vaccination was sold in the market to benefit some individual while artificial growth of 10 to 12 percent showed every year due to which real issues were never identified. He said local meat demand was not fulfilling due to exports of quality meat to the Middle East markets while Egypt and other countries stop meat exports to meet local requirement. He said Pakistani tanneries were better in standard than Turkish tanneries while there is a need to support the sector. He called for strict regulations to stop the meat exports.

Anees Arshad said leather sector was the second largest exporting sector after textile but still unorganised. He said ‎£2 pound sterling per animal per day subsidy was given in London and Pakistan also needs such incentives besides creating awareness among the livestock farmers to increase their income.

Ch Majeed said that slaughtering animals on Eidul Azha is Sunnah-e-Ibrahim (AS) but now it has become difficult to perform. He called for facilities to small livestock farmers in villages to increase the production of animals. He said hides were destroyed due to mishandling for which awareness should be created among public.

Saab Khan said that slaughtering animal on Eidul Azha had become a dream for the commoner. He said poor public was unable to bring up their kids due to inflation. He said lower cadre staff has high hopes with the government and asked for special allowance for sacrificial animals.