Pakistan government pledges poultry industry support

The minister was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day international poultry congress 2006 on ‘farm management, bio-security, avian influenza and marketing trends’. The Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) organised the congress.

Bosan said that the government has provided a number of incentives for the poultry industry including 150 million rupees compensation to the bird flu affected poultry farmers. Special allocations have been made for upgrading the diagnostic laboratories, he added.

The minister assured that the government would not hesitate in meeting genuine demands of the sector. He said that the poultry development can play key role in poverty alleviation.

Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool, who was also speaking at the conference, said that the government will provide all possible assistance for modernising the poultry industry to eliminate chances of spread of fatal diseases.

The governor said public-private partnership was required for promotion of the industry and increase in its production.

He said poultry was an important industry of the country providing livelihood to over 1.2 million people. The industry had been seriously affected during the past six months as a result of bird flu scare. The government would advance soft loans to poultry farmers and set up laboratories for diagnosis of diseases and production of bird flu vaccine in collaboration with the association.

He said the 100 percent increase in production during the past six years had proved that poultry industry had enormous potential for growth.