By Asad Cheema
ISLAMABAD: The government has set a target to produce about 2.363 million tons of poultry during fiscal year 2023-24 in order to fulfill the domestic requirements of poultry meat and other value added products.
The poultry output during the 11 months of current fiscal year (2022-23) was recorded at 2.160 million metric tons as compared to its fixed targets, where as about 5.809 million tons of meat also produced in order to fulfill the local requirements of the commodity as well as for exporting to exploit existing potential of halal meat in global markets.
Domestic output of meat in 11 months of last year was (2021-22) was recorded at 5.5 million tons as the government had set to produce about 5.5 million tons of meat during the year 2022-23, said an official in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.
He said that beef production targets for period under review were fixed at 2.630 million metric tons and mutton at 817,000 tons, adding that during out going fiscal year the local production of beef was recorded at 2.55 million tons as against the set targets of 2.54 million tons, where as about 799,000 metric tons of mutton also produced as compared the set targets of 799,000 metric tons.
He further informed that agriculture sector was envisaged to grow by 3.9% in the Annual Plan 2022-23 given a strong crop sector performance of the previous year.
However, he said that during the period from June-August 2022, torrential rains and flash flooding led to an unprecedented disaster in various parts of the country and as per Post-Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA), agriculture sector suffered the greatest damage and loss of around $13 billion.
Agriculture sector is expected to grow by 3.5% in 2023-24 with expected contributions of important crops 3%, other crops 3.5%, cotton ginning 7.2%, livestock 3.6%, forestry 3% and fishing 3% respectively, he added.
