THE AGA KHAN RURAL SUPPORT PROGRAMME,
BALTISTAN
Minutes of the Workshop
on
Livestock Breed improvement
Date:
Venue:
Time:
30 March 2010
AKRSP Regional Programme Office, Skardu Baltistan.
10:30 a.m.
Participants
ECFF Project
1.
2.
3.
4.
Muhammad Zaman
Jaffar Ali
Dr. Sanaullah
Waseem Abbas
(Manager ECFF Project)
(Agri-business Specialist)
(Project Veterinarian)
(M&E Officer ECFFP)…..Recorder
GUESTS from Govt Livestock Deptt., Researchers and progressive Breeders
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Dr. Muhammad Muslim
FidaHussain
Ghulam Muhammad
Shakir Abbas
Basharat Ali
Ghulam Mehdi
Dr. Israr Hussain
8. Sher Muhammad Payalo
9. WazirMurad Ali
10. Yahya Khan
11. Muhammad Hussain
12. Mumtaz Ali Arif
13. Haji Ali
(Vet Officer AH Department Skardu)
(LSA/AIT Vet. Hospital, Skardu)
(V.O/DDO LDD Ghanche)
(Food & Meat Inspector)
(LSA, LSO Thallay)
(Lab. Tech. Vet. Hospital)
(Livestock Officer Animal Husbandry
Department Ghangche)
(Manager LSO ShigariKhurd)
(Manager LSO Mendi)
(Chairman LSO Thallay)
(Live stock specialist LSO Thallay)
(Livestock specialist LSO Thallay)
(Master trainer Livestock Astana Skardu)
Proceedings
The workshop formally started with the recitation of the Holy Quran. Then Mr.
Muhammad Zaman (Manager ECFF Project) welcomed the esteemed guests and
appreciated their presence in the event. After the welcome speech an introductory session
started, in which all the participants introduced themselves individually.
After the introduction session, Mr. Muhammad Zaman (Manager ECFF project) gave a
detailed briefing to the audience regarding the Food Facility Project funded by European
Commission, in which he covered every activity in detail and gave a breakup of all the
activities included in the ECFF project. After the presentation Dr. Sanaullah (Project
Veterinarian) briefed the participants about the so far breeds introduced by AKRSP in the
region. He said that Jersey and Freezen breeds were introduced by AKRSP which proved
to successful in Baltistan region. But according to Dr. Sanaullah, AKRSP has not yet
worked on Artificial Insemination (A.I) but has provided bulls to the community. He also
shared his experience regarding breeding of improved varieties of livestock.
Then Dr. Ghulam Muhammad suggested keeping record of breeds and cross breeds. He
also suggested that if proper facilities are provided, they themselves can produce
improved breeds locally. He also suggested that breed should be selected who will able to
bear the climatic conditions of the region.
Dr. Mohammad Muslim Vet officer in animal husbandry department shared their
experiences and also suggested that we should try local bulls including Yak for breeding
to save the huge management cost on local bulls. The improved breeds some time not
survived because of the harsh winter season of Baltistan region.
Master trainer Mr. Haji Ali from Astana said that the management cost of the Freezen
bull is high as compare to the Jersey bull. Some time the local cows cannot bear the
weight during crossing. He suggested the Jersey bull for the breed improvement.
After that Mr. Ghulam Mehdi Artificial insemination specialist suggested that people
should properly check whether the breed they are purchasing is pure or not. He also
added that A.I is much better in terms of performance than natural breeding using a bull
because A.I can better manage the sperms of the bull which in case of natural breeding is
wasted largely and A.I is less expensive than natural breeding. The AI specialist
appreciated that the FF EC project has included the AI programme. He also promised to
extend their cooperation to the selected LSOs for piloting this project.
Mr. Jaffar Ali (Agribusiness specialist) shared his case study on breeds. His study
revealed that Jersey breed is the best breed for the Baltistan region. He even did the cost
benefit analysis of different breeds and proved Jersey bull is cost effective compare to
other improved bulls.
At the end of the workshop a matrix was developed in which the suggested/
recommended breeds by the participants.
RECOMMENDATIONS OF BULLS+A.I:
LSO MENDI RONDU
LSO SHIGARI KHURD
LSO THALAY
Improved Breed:
Improved Breed:
Local Breed:

A.I:


Jursey breed

Jursey
Local Breed:
Sahiwal
Red Sindhi

Yak
Yak
Improved Breed:

Jursey
A.I of Jursey.
Local Breed:
 Yak
A.I
services
needed.

partially A.I services fully needed.
A.I
services
needed.
After the recommendations session, the workshop formally ended.
partially