KP govt to disburse interest-free loans to livestock farmers

PESHAWAR: The KP government will provide interest-free credit to livestock farmers and cattle herders to promote livestock farming, improvement productivity and make them financially stable.

This was stated by KP Minister for Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives Fazal Hakeem Khan Yousafzai while presiding over a progress review meeting on the ongoing and future plans of the Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives Department.

Besides, Secretary Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives Department, Fakhar Alam Khan, Director General (DG) Livestock (Extension) Dr Asal Khan, Director General Livestock Research Dr Ijaz Ali, Director Livestock Merged Districts Dr Abdul Waheed Wazir and Registrar Cooperatives Muhammad Ishaq, officer from Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives were also present on the occasion.

In his briefing, DG Extension Dr Asal Khan told the meeting about the measures and projects in livestock extension and said that talks are going on with the banks to provide interest-free loans to the cattle herders. Steps are being taken to implement this project. The government will bear the cost of this project while the principal amount will be deposited in easy installments.

The Director General Livestock and Dairy Development (Research) Dr Ijaz Ali said that research is being done on cattle and poultry diseases. Livestock Research Centres equipped with modern facilities are established at Peshawar, Abbottabad, Chitral, Swat, Kohat and DI Khan.

Provincial Minister Fazal Hakeem Khan Yousafzai emphasized on research on fisheries and said livestock research should conduct research on increasing fish production, best breeding, disease prevention.

He further directed to take steps to revive the cooperative bank and make cooperative more active. In the meeting, while informing about the steps taken regarding digitalization of livestock sector, he said that animal identification and tracking system is being introduced which will increase the management and monitoring of livestock. It will improve overall productivity and help control diseases.