Enhancing dairy sector export competitiveness - International Trade ...

ENHANCING DAIRY SECTOR EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS IN PAKISTANAs has been discussed in the introductory part of this study, more than 80% of the farms in the dairy sectorare owned by smallholders having less than five animals and making up to more than 50% of total milchanimals in Pakistan (mainly cows and buffalos). These smallholders are mostly landless farmers who aregeographically dispersed in various parts of the country. This makes outreach of the government’sfacilitation institutions much difficult and uneconomical.Measures Adopted1. Through the 18th constitutional amendment, agriculture has been devolved to the provinces from afederal subject to the provincial subject with an overall objective to give provinces more autonomyin policies and actions. Federal government is now responsible for making national policy onlivestock and dairy.2. In 2007, a private sector-led initiative was taken where PDDC was incorporated with the objectiveof facilitating the farmers in dairy sector to improve farm management, enhance productivity, andearn reasonable income for their livelihood. The objective is being pursued through variousprojects under PDDC in community farming, rural farm services, extension services, model farmingprogram, cooling tank systems, and research and publication (“MaveshiNama”).3. The largest dairy development program in the private sector has been initiated by Tetra PakPakistan and is called the “Dairy Hub” 80 and is being implemented through large milk processorssuch as Nestle, Engro Foods and Haleeb Foods. This community development programme aimsat providing training, consultancy and veterinary services to rural dairy farmers on one-herd basisof 20 villages, located within the radius of 15-20 km and making up one Dairy Hub. Some of theinitiatives taken under this program on the farm management include provision of mechanized milkmachines and on-farm consultancy services by a field service officer posted in the area.4. International agencies such as the USAID have earmarked funds of US$ 2.4 million under theDairy Program 2011-14. The aim is to increase the productivity of 12,000 small-scale farmers inthe provinces of Punjab, Sindh and KPK by 15-20% through adoption of better farm managementtechniques.5. “The Pakistan Domestic Biogas Program” (PDGP) was initiated in January 2009 by the RuralSupport Programme with the financial assistance of SNV (Netherlands Development Organization)and under the consultancy of Winrock International. The main objective of the project is to raisethe livelihoods of rural farmers and improve their quality of life by establishing a commerciallyviable biogas sector in Pakistan.Impact AssessmentAs almost 95% of the dairy community is based in remote rural areas, the major issue with effectiveimplementation of the abovementioned initiatives is their outreach and acceptance by the farmers’communities. The initiatives are generally found unable to benefit a larger percentage of farmers due topoor infrastructure, financial constraints, and access to opinion leaders in various farmers’ communities.Often, there occurs overlapping in different initiatives of similar nature that are either initiated bygovernment sector or by certain international or domestic organizations. The major reason is lack ofcoordination.The PDGP set a target of establishing 14,000 biogas plants by the end of 2012; however it has only beenable to construct 70 biogas plants to date. The main reason is preoccupation of its managers instreamlining its infrastructure, marketing and establishing linkages with various stakeholder organizations,which is taking much of its time. 81Recommendationsi. The provincial governments urgently need to establish model farms in the dairy concentratedareas of Pakistan preferably replicating the Dairy Hub concept provided by Tetra Pak.81 Rural Support Program Network (RSPN), Pakistan Domestic Biogas Program (PDBP), http://rspn.org/our_projects/pdbp.html68