Improving quality assurance in Pakistan’s dairy industry

The dairy industry of Pakistan is a huge industry and the most common dairy product is milk. Improving quality assurance in dairy industry of Pakistan is a need because Pakistan is still unable to create a market among foreign competitors because its products are still restricted to basic.
Pakistan is said to be the 4rth largest milk producing country and the yearly production of Pakistan is 33 billion liters. It is said that 80% of the milk in Pakistan is produced by rural producers.
The developing dairy industry of Pakistan is ideal for branded dairy products mostly in the urban areas because in urban areas mostly branded and packaged milk are the ones which rule the market while there are few segments which use the loose milk supplied by “local gawala”. Quality assurance is not that much there as far as loose milk is concerned because of the conventional method of milking and handling of the milk does not protect the milk from germs. A lot of people are now aware of this fact so they now prefer packaged milk more as compared to loose milk. In packaged milk quality is insured as by using machines for milking. The machines used in milking are washed with chemical before and after milking is done. Even the milking glands of the animals are also washed to ensure better quality.
Considering the current situation of Pakistan dairy sector i.e. major key players of dairy business are importing cheap skimmed milk powder for their products; (this refers to the Ahmed Faraz Khan Column ‘Dairy farmers hit by milk powder processing’, Nov 5, 2012) if this situation persists for quite long it would be very disastrous as the farmers might have to sell their animals to earn their livelihood and they will be permanently trapped in the circle of poverty. Quality plays a very crucial role in the dairy sector because the consumer of today’s modern era is very health conscious. So the businesses should focus on continuous improvement of their products quality.