Govt to provide 5 million poultry birds for backyard farming on subsidized rates

ISLAMABAD, Sep 5 (APP):The government would provide 5 million poultry birds on subsidized rates for backyard farming under Prime Minister Agriculture Emergency Program across the country during next five years.

The initiative would help in fulfilling the nutrient requirements as well as to enhance the farm income for elevating poverty from the rural areas of the country, said an official in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

Talking to APP here on Thursday, he said that the total cost of the backyard poultry scheme was estimated at Rs1.64 billion and out of the total cost 30% would be shared by the federal government, whereas 70% would be paid by the beneficiaries.

He said that out of the total poultry birds, 2 million would be provided in Punjab, 01 million in Sindh, 0.5 million for Balochistan and 0.5 million for Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir respectively.
These birds are completely vaccinated and help in provision of meat and eggs to a large portion of under nutrient segments of children and women, adding that a large portion of local population was facing the deficiency of animal protein, particularly children due to which child mortality ratio was increasing.
The government, he said would provide a set of birds comprising five hens and one cock, on first come first serve basis and in this regard registration centers have also been established at tehsil level.

Up to three sets of birds could be provided to a national identity card holder and a special desk has been established in the National Agriculture Research Center for monitoring of the program, he added.

The official said that the project was run on pilot basis in a third party study was conducted in order to measure the successes of the program, adding that the study showed that the income of a family was increased by Rs1,500 besides, it had provided eggs and meat for them too.