Killing of livestock in floods likely to trigger meat, milk shortage in Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – As the losses from devastating floods in Pakistan keep piling up, farmers and experts fear that the killing of hundreds of thousands of animals may lead to a severe shortage of milk and meat in the coming months.

Ravaging floods have killed over 1,300 people, ripped away mountainsides, swept off the foundations of buildings, bridges, and roads, and inundated a third of Pakistan since mid-June.

The historic floods and destructive rains have also washed away hundreds of thousands of livestock, a major source of livelihood in rural Pakistan, which makes up 70% of the South Asian nuclear state.

According to the official statistics, over 750,000 animals of different kinds have been killed due to rains and floods, a grim development, which is likely to cause shortages of meat, milk, and other dairy products in a country already facing a looming threat of food insecurity.

Agriculturists and dairy business experts fear that the killing of hundreds of thousands of animals may lead to a 30% to 40% reduction in milk and meat production in the coming months.

Almost 45% of the country’s cropland has already been inundated by the floods, posing a serious threat to food security and further adding to the already skyrocketing inflation.

Pakistan is the fourth largest milk producer country in the world. Around 80% of the country’s total production comes from rural areas.

According to the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, an Islamabad-based think tank, livestock, which accounts for 11.2% of the nation’s GDP, provides livelihood to over 8 million rural families.

The country produces 50 million tons of milk annually.

In terms of meat production, although the country is not a major world player, it still produces nearly 5 million tons of meat annually.