LAHORE: Livestock is a rapidly growing sub-sector of agriculture that can play a more vibrant role in socio-economic stability of the rural areas provided a level playing field is available to its stakeholders.

This was stated by Federal Secretary for National Food Security and Research Seerat Asghar while presiding over the inaugural session of a two-day `National Consultation on Livestock Development in Pakist anWay Forward` organised by the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in collaboration with the Ministry of National Food Security and Research here on Tuesday.

Mr Asghar said the government was taking steps to develop livestock sector and it had sought cooperation from stakeholders to make the sector perform to its maximum potential. He said the national consultation was aimed at formulating policies and create environment for the development of livestock. He said the growth in population, urbanisation, incomeand export opportunities was increasing the demand for livestock and livestock products.

However, its development was constrained by the low productivity per animal, prevalence of livestock diseases, poor animal husbandry practices.

Thefederalsecretarylauded the organisers for bringing the stakeholders on one table on the issues related to the livestock sector.

`The recommendations from this forum after in-depth discussions for the sustainable development of livestock sector with the inputs from the stakeholders willhelp us to develop viable policies and strong enabling environment for livestock growers and businesses in order to register tangible progress in the sector,` he said.

The consultation participants held discussions on dairy, poultry, meat, animal health and veterinary services. The meeting will continue on Wednesday.

Faculty of Bio Sciences Dean Dr Habibur Rehman, Dr Qurban Ali Animal Husbandry commissioner, NFS&R, Islamabad and provinciallivestock secretarles, stakeholders and experts were present.