Pakistan struggles with poultry feed crisis
Pesticides and insecticides banned in developed countries around the world are being freely used in Pakistan and are a major causes of poisoned poultry feed.
This was a statement made by Dr A. A. Qureshi, a professor of physiology at
the University of Karachi and pathologist in charge at the K&N Avian Disease
Diagnostic & Research Institute.
“These pesticides and insecticides
produce Afla toxins that make poultry feed poisonous,” he said, adding that in
many parts of Europe, for example, where the grains that are fed to the birds is
kept in dilos, in Pakistan there is lack of proper harvesting, storage and
transportation facilities. Here, the grains are stored in hot climates and,
additionally, there are no quality control measures for such grains.
“The Pakistan Standards Institute (PSI) has evolved standards for
poultry feed, but unfortunately it has not become a law as yet,” said Dr
Qureshi.
A spokesman of Pakistan Poultry Association says that the shortage
of of grains that are essential ingredients of poultry feed has also generated a
crisis. “Wheat is an essential part of poultry feed, but since it has become a
scarce commodity lately, the production of feed has suffered,” he
said.
Much poultry feed is needed in Pakistan, as can be seen by the 6.95
mln bags of poultry feed each containing 50 kg of feed which are used in Punjab
alone whereas the sale in megalopolis Karachi ranges between two to 2.5 mln
bags.
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