By Syed Moazzam Hashmi
SUKKUR, Pakistan, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Pulling a goat by an ear while cuddling her toddler by the other hand, Janat Bibi made her way through knee-deep muddy water in the flooded rural area of Sukkur in southern Pakistan's Sindh province, screaming loud for veterinary care of her cattle as half a dozen frail water buffalos and cows limped behind her.
"Yes, there are doctors for humans but what about my ailing cattle," Bibi, 29, a mother of four children, fumed out concerns about her family's lifeline, the cattle, as livestock is not only food for Pakistanis but are money making machines. Over eight million small and landless farmers raise cattle as their only source of income in Pakistan.
Bibi's village was washed away along with thousands of others in the continuing month long floods that have destroyed 900,000 homes and marooned 20 million people across the flood-ravaged country, where standing crops and agricultural capability was fatally hit by the floods that submerged 25 percent of the total 803,940 square kilometer of landmass.
"The buffalo which I could sell for 2,500 U.S. dollars now can hardly fetch 400 dollars as the animals are sick," sighed the desperate marooned villager, sadly.
Livestock makes up 52.2 percent of the agriculture value added and 11.3 percent of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The value of livestock is 6.1 percent more than the combined value of major and minor crops, according to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.
Unofficial data indicates that more than seven million of the approximately 140 million cattle were killed by the worst floods in the country's history. Five million cattle were affected in Sindh province alone, said Tahir Pervaiz, General Secretary of Pakistan Meat Association.
While the United Nations Radio reported on Friday that 200,000 cows, sheep, buffalo, goats and donkeys have been confirmed dead or missing, but final number will be much higher into millions.
The gross value addition of livestock that exhibited an increase of 22.3 percent in financial year 2008-2009 than the previous year, has as seriously been challenged as anything else in Pakistan amid the following main issues: continued smuggling of cattle into neighboring Iran and Afghanistan, unchecked export of live cattle and meat to Gulf and the Middle East, fear of dead animals meat coming to local markets and the possible exuberant increase of meat prices in the next couple of months.
"Even before floods, we went on a token hunger strike against shortage of livestock due to smuggling and export," Tahir Pervaiz told local DAWN TV in an interview on Wednesday, adding, "export of meat and cattle should be stopped."
Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took a suo moto action against cattle smuggling in June while the case is in the court-of-law.
Pervaiz said that the government has imposed a ban on uncontrolled export of cattle in 2007 under certain conditions. But the concerned ministry has issued permits for 200,000 cattle export "even under the current situation" where millions dollars worth livestock have been affected. Outflow of live cattle from Pakistan is also hurting the protesting leather garments industry of the country as it is deprived of the hides, the raw material.
Talking about the rising price of meat in local markets, the meat association official strongly recommends an import of 30,000 cattle to meet the upcoming shortfall of meat and the projected 200-300 percent rise in meat prices in the next couple of months.
The United Nations has asked for six million dollars in emergency assistance for livestock while the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has mobilized 1.4 million dollars for procurement of feedstuff for animal health vaccines, according to UN Radio.
Local experts suggest formulation of a "wise" export policy, its strict implementation and imagination to foresee the underlying concerns and issues besides mobilization of resources to meet the upcoming challenges and address the concern of Janat Bibi and millions of other affected people in Pakistan.
