RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Bosan on Wednesday said that government has imposed complete ban on the export of live animals.

He said this while addressing the launching ceremony of three-tier training programmes for meat industry workers, supervisors and managers in collaboration with University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore and USAID Agribusiness Project.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that the government is promoting meat industry and has allowed import of meat-processing machinery and equipment at zero percent duty for the purpose.

He said that the low efficiency and production losses are mainly caused during collection, processing, handling, storage and transportation of livestock products.

“The capacity building and training of workers will not only assist in reducing physical and economical losses to the sector but will also help to establish sustainable foreign markets for our livestock products,” he said.

The minister lauded the UVAS for launching these training programmes and assured full cooperation of the government to private sector to tap new markets.

The Secretary Livestock and Dairy Development, Dr Sajid Yoousfani emphasised on the training of human resource for the development of meat industry. He said that initiation of meat industry training programmes by the UVAS will go a long way in development of livestock sector in general and meat industry in particular.

Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha said that the purpose of these training programmes is to strengthen the capacity and proficiency of meat processing plants according to the international quality and hygiene standards.

He said the training programmes will help to improve the capacity of the meat processing industry by training the workforce to enhance their knowledge and skills in meat supply chain.

He further added that these training programmes have been customized in a way that will benefit all the relevant players in the meat supply chain.

Head of Department of Meat Science and Technology Dr Muhammad Hayat Jaspal spoke about the objectives of the training programmes, which are being conducted at Lahore and Karachi for meat industry workers, supervisors and managers.