INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Keeping in view the above, the current environment in Pakistan is investment friendly for the livestock sector. Important areas of investment in livestock are:
• Setting up large breeding farms:
Large farms (buffalo, important local breeds with high demand, crossbred animals and exotic cattle breeds) can serve as primary source of sale of genetically superior animals for new farms, dairy colonies (which have high turn over of animals) and export.
• Establishment of milk collection and chilling centres and dairy processing:
Pakistan is the 5 th largest producer of milk in the world. However only 3.0 % is being processed. The major obstacle in this regard is collection of good quality milk. Establishment of milk collection centres in the milk pockets with chillers offer a good investment as the quality and quantity of milk procured will be improved. Dairy industry in Pakistan is mainly dependent on production of UHT milk. While market for UHT milk is expected to expand, there is need to diversify the products. Diversified dairy products may include pasteurized milk, flavoured milk, milk with various fat levels, condensed milk, milk powder and various flavoured and fat percentage yougurts.
• Vaccine production especially for Foot and Mouth disease and veterinary pharmaceuticals:
Foot and Mouth disease is the most prevalent disease in livestock of Pakistan and no locally manufactured vaccine is available. Imported vaccine is too costly for most of the farmers to use. Thus there is acute demand and need for FMD vaccine which is of good quality and of reasonable price. Similarly there is growing market for quality veterinary pharmaceuticals.
• Cattle feed mills:
Cattle feed industry is now emerging but it still caters for less than 5 % of the required balanced feed needs. The demand for livestock feed of various types (dairy, fattening, bulls, etc) is definitely going to increase, thus cattle feed industry is poised to grow.
• Integrated meat production and processing:
Demand for red meat is increasing rapidly. The only way to meet the demand of mutton and beef in the country is conversion to feedlot fattening. Thus feedlot fattening offers good investment opportunity. Furthermore, establishment of slaughter houses and model butcheries with grading system and commercial cuts will add value. Moreover, there is tremendous scope and need to establish slaughter house by-product plants for further profitability.
• Integrated poultry production and processing:
Poultry industry has made significant progress for the last 20-25 years with annual growth rate of 10 to 15 %. However, the growth of the industry has resulted in disjointed units within the industry. The future growth of poultry industry will depend upon vertical integration of different components including environmentally controlled houses for broilers and layers and processing and value addition like ready to cook products.
