ISLAMABAD:The government has set a target to produce about 5.809 million tons of meat during fiscal year 2023-24 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.
Talking to reporter here on Tuesday, 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.
Meanwhile, poultry production during the period under review was fixed at 2.363 million metric tons as poultry output during 2022-23 was recorded at 2.160 million metric tons as compared to its fixed targets, he added.
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.