LAHORE: Saying that the federal budget 202223 lacks any worthwhile new initiative, livestock stakeholders have demanded the status of the industry for the dairy sector.

Expressing their views at a post-budget dialogue organised by the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) here on Tuesday,various stakeholders from poultry, dairy, meat, and leather sectors and senior university faculty lauded the exemption of import duties on agricultural machinery and several other initiatives of the government but noted that the budget largely maintained status quo and was devoid of any notable initiative to ameliorate the woes of the livestock sector.

The dialogue was cochaired by UVAS ViceChancellor Dr Nasim Ahmad and Animal Husbandry Commissioner Dr Muhammad Akram.

The participants suggested that allocations for the livestock be enhanced keeping in view the mammoth contribution of thesector in the GDP and that the dairy sector should be given industry status and duties on imported milk should be increased to protect the local farmers, who are facing increasing pressure from rising costs of production.

They underscored the need for significant policy and budgetary initiatives to ensure the viability of livestock business in order to stop small and medium farmers from quitting livestock farming.

They said that to cope with the rising cost of imported supplies, work on the initiatives for localization of soybean and other hitherto imported inputs should be taken up on war footing.

It was also noted thatdelaying the sales tax refunds is soaking up the working capital of corporate dairy businesses and increasing their cost of business. They said the timely implementation of the minimum pasteurization law should be ensured besides undertaking the livestock census as early as possible.

They called for farmer training and awareness initiatives to increase livestock productivity and to avoid the loss of valuable materials to leather industries caused by various skin-related diseases.

The participants also highlighted the need for special initiatives to counter supply chain bottlenecks and market distortions caused by the ongoing Ukraine war.