Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has initiated major steps to boost the livestock sector, with the province preparing for significant expansion.
According to details, under the Punjab livestock programme, up to one million animals are set to be exported.
To support this, memorandums of understanding have been signed with seven organisations, including a Chinese firm, for meat exports.
Under the plan, China’s Global Meat Company will collaborate with Punjab Agriculture and Meat Company to install a boiler unit in Punjab, where meat will be processed for large-scale export.
To meet export targets, around 300,000 buffaloes and cattle, along with 300,000 sheep, will be fattened. In addition, a tagging process for up to two million animals will be completed.
Maryam Nawaz has also directed the establishment of state-of-the-art veterinary hospitals in every tehsil across Punjab to improve livestock care.
Furthermore, four mobile veterinary dispensaries will be made operational in each tehsil to provide treatment for animals. To support women’s empowerment, the quota for providing free livestock to rural women has been doubled.
The Punjab government will also offer up to 60 per cent subsidy on the purchase of livestock machinery. Officials say that, for the first time in the province’s history, the livestock farming sector is being mechanised.
