Pakistan can learn from China’s dairy practices

Envoy says top Chinese dairy enterprises keen to make investment

BEIJING:

Pakistan is among the world’s top five milk producers, with over 60 million tons of milk production each year. To further enhance production, Pakistan can learn from China’s best practices applied in the dairy sector, said Badaruz Zaman, Commercial Counsellor at Pakistani Embassy in Beijing.

He made the remarks on the World Milk Day (WMD), adding that Pakistani dairy products and milk are of high quality and low price, from which Chinese enterprises can benefit through investing.

“Top Chinese dairy enterprises showed interest in investing in Pakistan. Some of them visited Pakistan, but due to Covid-19 the development delayed. Once Covid situation gets better, two enterprises will set up their factories in Pakistan immediately,” Zaman stated.

According to the Pakistan Dairy Association, the government should support this industry to boost export and domestic production, especially to control the adulteration in loose milk.

“Out of 60 million tons of annual milk production, just 3% is processed. Nearly 80% of milk is supplied by small farms based on less than 10 animals, while the supply from medium and large farms is a mere 1%. The reliance on small farmers explains the low milk yield, which is 20-25% among top-yielding countries,” the Pakistan Dairy Association elaborated.

Shahid Khan, a dairy farmer in Rawalpindi, told CEN that local farmers are facing many problems, such as lack of education, latest storage facilities, transfer of milk, and cold storages.

“China is one of the major dairy and milk consuming countries. Chinese technologies are usually low priced. If we adopt the techniques and technology used by China, Pakistan could advance in this industry,” Khan mentioned.

Dr Qamar Shakil, Senior Scientist (Sorghum) of Fodder Research Sub-station, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad told CEN that in Pakistan, there is a deficiency of 35-40% in fodders and sorghum, which could be a good source of animal feed.

“Using sorghum as animal feed in large quantity not only helps achieve the animal nutrition and feed supply, but also quality milk and dairy products would be produced here.

Sorghum grain provides an ample quantity of energy and is rich in vitamins and minerals like Vitamin B, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, iron and zinc. It is an excellent source of fibre, antioxidants and protein,” he added.

“There is a tremendous amount of international experts, especially belonging to China, that can assist in building the infrastructure in the sorghum breeding programmes and animal nutrition that is required to enhance Pakistan’s ability to efficiently produce animals,” he mentioned.

The article originally appeared on the China Economic Net

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2022.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.