THE dairy sector has remained neglected by the successive governments despite its vast potential. Even at its lowest yield per cattle as compared to the world yield, the country is surplus in milk production.

However, due to lack of proper planning and collection and distribution facilities, a major portion of the produce in the far flung areas is consumed, per force, by the producers. And the demand of the urban areas is met through import of powdered milk.

The country has immense potential to increase its milk production which has so far been realised due to lack of government interest in the sector.

Milk production despite its lowest yield here as compared to other countries, is even today far ahead of the value of major cash crops such as wheat, cotton, rice and sugarcane.

Pakistan ranks fourth among the milk producing countries with an estimated 33 billion litters produced annually. Although this level of milk production is more than on a per capita basis for today’s population, lack of processing and poor distribution system in a long hot weather (milk has a shelf-life of only four hours under moderate temperatures) keeps it from reaching consumers in areas that are either deficient in milk production, particularly the urban centres, or those that are difficult to reach.

The milk yield per cow in India is about 3,000 liters per lactation period as against 1,000 liters in Pakistan. In Western Europe the average exceeds 5,000 liters and in the United States 9,000 liters per lactation period. To increase milk yield, India has made full use of foreign expertis.Through artificial insemination India has developed a new breed of cows which yield 3,000 liter per lactation period against its previous yield of 1,200 liters.

There is a big demand of both powdered and packed milk in Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia besides Malaysia and Philippine which Pakistan can easily meet by harnessing its resources. Following the Indian model, Pakistan too can develop new breed of cows and thereby increase its production by over 100 per cent. Pakistan can become a big exporter of processed milk provided due attention is paid to the dairy sector.

Unlike other progressive countries where sale of raw milk is disallowed by law, and processing is mandatory as milk being one of the two major carriers of diseases (water being the other), Pakistan continues to allow 97.5 per cent of its milk to be distributed through traditional gawala system.

The contractors, who collect milk in bulk from villages in Punjab through the dodhis ( the middlemen), and sell it to urban consumers, go a step further. They add un-hygienically produced ice slabs, caustic soda and sometimes formalin to the milk to prevent it from rotting due to intense heat in summer.

The UHT process, though expensive, has proved to be successful in increasing milk’s shelf-life to 12 weeks. On the other hand, the pasteurisation process, in spite of its low processing cost, had not made much headway due to the short shelf-life of its product and its dependence on old chain from production to consumption. Taking advantage of this cost factor, some milk marketers have begun marketing loose milk in urban areas which they claim to be pasteurised.

The UHT process adds heavily to the milk cost as it requires huge investment, production of packing material and above all the collection cost of milk, making it beyond the purchasing power of the poor and even lower- middle class. Pasteursation process is comparatively much cheaper as the process is simple and packing material is cheaper. Small pasteuratisation plants can play an important role in meeting milk demand of cities and towns provided there is a strong and efficient organsation to ensure that all necessary precautions have been taken and hygienic requirements for pasteurisation process met before supplying it to consumers.

At present only about 2.5 per cent milk is processed, about 97.5 per cent is consumed as fresh milk in most unhygienic conditions causing real health hazards. Milk is consumed by farmers, per force, mainly in far-flung areas due to lack of facility to transport it to deficient areas.

About 75 per cent of the total raw milk is produced in Punjab, 14 per cent in Sindh, 10 per cent in the NWFP and one per cent in Balochistan. In Punjab the ratio of buffalos and cows is about 60-40, in Sindh 50-50, in NWFP 20-80 whereas in Balochistan there are mostly cows. There is no proper research and documentation of the dairy sector and no serious effort has been made to understand the dynamics of this important sector. Its importance could be gauged from the fact that in terms of market value, its contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surpasses all major crops put together.

Livestock research institutions are generally weak and under funded and lack effective links with extension and other formal and informal institutions. Many of the research institutions are not capable of conducting applied or adaptive research.

Effective training programmes are responsive to the demands and the characteristics of local environments. It is, therefore, important to institutionalise livestock training in a manner whereby limited financial, human and physical resources are harnessed to respond directly to solving identified priority constraints. This should be an important consideration in the training of professionals at the graduate and post-graduate levels.

Knowledge enhancement of farmers regarding better feed management could be done by involving the private sector companies engaged in milk processing, and the provincial livestock departments that can provide training and extension services to dairy farmers.

An analysis shows that the animal stock is of poor quality. Although, better feed will increase yield somewhat, better stock of animals would render the dairy sector commercially viable. Artificial insemination facilities should be made cheaper to make them affordable for small farmers. The government could provide easy credit to farmers for better quality livestock.

The poor marketing infrastructure in rural areas is one of the major reasons why many livestock producers lack the incentive to adopt livestock-improvement technologies. Furthermore, the processing and distribution of products are often non-existent or unhygienic. Where there is some form of stability in demand and supply, rural traders devise innovative, practical and sustainable methods (the use of motorcycles for milk distribution), which in turn can be reflected in increased productivity. Access to markets often influences the decision of farmers regarding the mix of livestock species to produce.

Lack of quality check is the most neglected aspect of the whole system. There is no test at any stage along the marketing chain. For example, those who handle milk right from the beginning till it reaches the final consumer are not conscious of hygiene. Very few shops have refrigeration facility; the milk is of poor quality. The containers used in transportation are unhygienic since it is difficult to clean them. Adulteration is another issue.

It is imperative that the issues of increase in milk production, and distribution are tackled on progressive lines. The federal government may appoint a task force to study various aspects of the sector, identify the factors which have hampered its growth so far and recommend measures to develop this sector properly to harness its tremendous potential.