The Punjab Livestock Dairy and Development Board (PLDDB) and the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) on Friday inked a Memorandum of Understanding to address the issues of livestock sector with a special focus on fodder production. The MoU was duly inked by UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan and PLDDB Acting Chief Executive Officer Saira Iftikhar at the syndicate room.

According to agreement, they also decided to provide policy recommendations, conduct research and development activities , and strengthen academia-industry linkages.
The both sides will jointly work on maximizing the knowledge in the fodder and allied sector. They also decided to set up a fodder outreach committee for creating the awareness about the latest practices in the livestock. The both sides decided to strengthen the existing mutual cooperation that will help flourish the sector in term of increased productivity. Saira Iftikhar said livestock sector had an explosive potential to uplift the national economy by contributing a major share in national GDP and beyond doubt can be termed as economy’s lifeline. She said PLDDB aims to conserve, develop, and improve the livestock of Punjab and bridge the gap between demand and supply of meat and milk by strengthening of AI Services through Skill Development of rural.
UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the UAF had developed a new variety of Sorghum of 15 feet that will help address the issue. He said that UAF had also introduced a variety of maize that will remain green for longer time. He said that the agriculture sector was the backbone of our economy and livestock constitutes 50 percent of the sector. He said foot and mouth disease was causing a hug loss to the sector. He said the UAF had developed mastitis vaccine and surf field Mastitis Diagnostics Kit in order to overcome disease and introduced Antiparasitic Medicine for animals. He said that the UAF had made tremendous success in developing wound healers superior to pyodine.
PLDDB Silage Project Executive Muhammad Wasi said that with the promotion of the silage production, we can overcome the issue of fodder. He also showed his concern that the average cow milk production was standing at 6.1 liter and buffalo milk production at 6.9 liter which was very low compared to the rest of the world.