The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Sunday asked the government to promote dairy sector which has great potential to play its role in the economic growth. The government should streamline the informal dairy sector so that it can play more effective role in the economy and fulfill the needs of increasing population, it said.

The dairy sector has huge potential but it is stuck in problems and operating mostly in informal sector said PEW President Dr Murtaza Mughal.

He said that despite lack of the government support, Pakistani dairy industry is the world’s third largest milk producer with over 54 billion litres of production but only three-five percent of the total output is marketed through proper business channels.

The remaining milk is provided to consumers by locals catering for their needs but with no assurance regarding hygiene which has provided an opportunity to the processed milk sector to attract millions of customers in urban centres, he added.

Murtaza Mughal said that it will take years for the formal sector to grab ten percent share in the market as around ten million families are linked to the milk business with only a minority having big farms.

The dairy sector contributes more than the crop sector but policymakers have always remained concerned about the later, ignoring the growing dairy sector, he said, adding that policy interventions for dairy development have been very few hitherto.

The interest of investors in the dairy industry has declined because of some serious issues as well as government’s lack of interest in the sector. The growth in population has caused a demand in the demand of dairy product which the government seriously needs to address.