Self-sufficiency in livestock by 2016

Ishara MUDUGAMUWA

The Livestock and Rural Community Development Ministry will enhance the livestock production in the country to achieve self-sufficiency in livestock products by 2016, Livestock and Rural Community Development Ministry Secretary A H Gamage said.

He said that it was necessary to produce 740 million litres of milk, 200,000 metric tonnes of poulty and 2,000 million eggs annually to be self sufficient in livestock products by 2016.

He also said that the Livestock and Rural Community Development Ministry had developed a five-year ‘Master Plan’ laying down the policy objectives, strategies, programmes and projects for livestock development.

According to the Secretary, there were about 670,000 farmer families engaged in dairy, poultry, goat and swine farming and 30 to 60 percent of their income was generated from livestock.

The government had also taken measures to create a favourable environment for private sector participation such as promoting the establishment of modernized large scale dairy farms with public and private sector partnership investments, increase in the purchase price of quality milk to Rs. 50 per litre, encourage establishment of poultry breeder farms, hatcheries and processing units, promote cultivation of animal feed material locally and strengthening the service delivery system by upgrading and establishing more divisional veterinary centers, veterinary investigation laboratories and animal hospitals, the Secretary said.

He further said that livestock was an important sector in the economy of Sri Lanka, which has the capacity to contribute to resolve most of the present social and economic issues prevailing in the country and it occupies a significant position in the national economy, due to its potential towards food security, nutrition, income generation and improving the social standards of the rural population.