Rank of Pakistan in milk production?

Answer 1

ISLAMABAD, January 29, 2010 (Balochistan Times): The National Assembly was informed on Friday that Pakistan stands at fourth in the ranking of the largest milk producing countries with annual production of 36.2 million tons from eight million farming households. Pakistan is the fourth largest producer of milk in the world behind India, China and the United States. The sector spans eight million farming households that together produces around 36.2 million tons of milk annually, Minister for Livestock and Dairy Development Humayun Aziz Kurd said. He said the annual milk production across the country is worth as much as Rs 177 billion and is easily the largest product in the entire agriculture sector. Kurd said the overall contribution of dairying to the national economy is to the tune of Rs 540 billion with 97 percent of it being informal non-documented economic activity. He informed the House that at present, the total estimated demand in terms of liquid milk is 43.2 million tons in the country and the demand is computed on the basis of monthly consumption parameters in household expenditure survey. The minister told the House that as a result of present government policies of public-private partnership, the sector has registered a constant growth of around five percent. This five percent growth in the national dairying is off set by a demand which growing by 15 percent, said the minister. He told the House that the ministry has recently initiated projects to organize milk producers at the village level on mass scale and to have an integrated approach that may start from improving productivity animal, which in Pakistan is 3.15 litres per milk animal right up to the milk storage and cut down wastage. The livestock and dairy development minister said in order to increase the pace of dairy sector, Livestock and Dairy Development Board has installed 150 milk cooling tanks, trained 168 milk cooling tank operators, 176 village livestock workers, 3871 farmers of milk producing groups. Besides, this, the Board has also registered and trained 566 quality breeders and registered 1004 Progeny Testing program Farmers.

(THROUGH Asia PULSE)