The project is a joint venture of UVAS and Livestock & Dairy Development Department Punjab aimed at establishing ostrich farming as a cottage industry in Pakistan. Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Livestock Nasim Sadiq urged to create only one group on WhatsApp for sharing their ideas, experiences, interaction with other farmers for their assistance, finding solutions to overcome the impediments involved in the development of ostrich farming in Punjab. He said livestock department and UVAS equally focused to resolve problems regarding ostrich breeding, nutrition, disease control and vaccine to enhance ostrich production in the country. He thanked UVAS for providing a better platform which is very affective for the character building of the farmers. He also said livestock department will also arrange ostrich farm field visits for the farmers.
In his address, Dr Pahsa said that UVAS and L&DD working together for the development of livestock sector and playing a vital role to enhance the profitability of the poor farmers in Pakistan. Earlier Director Ostrich Project Professor Dr Ather Mahmood, Expert Colonel Maqsood and Chief Executive Officer Pakistan Ostrich Company Raja Tahir Latif highlighted the importance of the ostrich farming sharing their ideas, experiences and solutions with farmers for the uplift of ostrich farming in Punjab. The project was launched in October, 2016 with a total budget of Rs 69.94 million with major portion of around Rs 60 million to be distributed among ostrich farmers as subsidy. The UVAS has so far registered 3,000 ostrich chicks at 61 ostrich farms in 18 districts of Punjab.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017