Livestock Integrated Farming in Rural Area of Pakistan

DOI

10.2991/absr.k.220309.001How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Integrated farming; Pakistan; milk production

Abstract

Agriculture in Pakistan has been realized as indispensable for food security, employment, and poverty alleviation at the rural level. About 70% of the population here in Pakistan depends upon agriculture for their livelihoods. Plants contribute 84% calories and 66% protein consumption of total human food demands. Presently agriculture sector is contributing 19.2% to national GDP in addition to the provision of employment to 38% of the labor force. Livestock has emerged as the largest subsector in agriculture by contributing 60.1 % to agriculture value addition and 11.5 % to the GDP during FY 2021. It provides an opportunity for livestock production and entrepreneurship for the people in the livestock industry, particularly in developing countries. It is organized in the long market chain and supports the livelihoods of smallholders in the developing world. Livestock sector is highly dynamic in response to increasing demand for livestock products. More than 8.0 million families are engaged in livestock production and supplementing more than 40% of their income from this sector. Gross value addition of livestock (1505 billion) increased with 3.06 % growth rate in FY 2021. In developed countries, demand is stagnating, efficient production systems, and environmental sustainability. The demand for livestock products is characterized by a dichotomy between developing and developed countries. Presently livestock products are contributing 17% to energy and 33 % to protein consumption in developing countries. The trend for animal production and consumption of livestock products has been tripled for the last three decades in developing countries of South East Asia. Per capita availability of meat and milk in Pakistan is far below compared to developed nations. While forecasting per capita demand of animal products, it has been indicated even a wider gap in protein deficiency from animal origin in all Asian countries. Livestock production has to take into account consumers’ demands such as food safety and quality, zoonotic disease transmissions, animal welfare, reduction of the use of treatments, and an acceptable environmental impact of livestock production. The production systems keep changing according to the economic and social factors and government policies. In an integrated livestock agriculture system, up to five (1-5) dairy animals along with their followers are reared for family needs. Majority (>75%) of the dairy animals are managed in a herd size (1-10) of smallholder level and contribute > 70% of national milk production, which is consumed house at the household level. Surplus milk is also processed into butter and ghee or other dairy products. They keep raising these animals, as there are adequate fodder and crop residues in mixed farming in villages. The system is important for poverty alleviation for rural poor through income generation by selling of the surplus dairy products in the nearby markets. The sale value of surplus products met a need for cash to buy other food items, school fees for their children and medical expenses. Hence, integrated livestock farming makes its holder healthy and wealthy due to balanced nutrition, food, and income generation. In this system, dairy animals are also used to produce draught animals integrated agri-farming by poor smallholders. As expensive capital machinery is beyond the reach of small farmers, so the demand for draught animals is meant as well.

Copyright

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Muhammad Riaz
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/03/29
TI  - Livestock Integrated Farming in Rural Area of Pakistan
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Improving Tropical Animal Production for Food Security (ITAPS 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1
EP  - 3
SN  - 2468-5747
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/absr.k.220309.001
DO  - 10.2991/absr.k.220309.001
ID  - Riaz2022
ER  -