LDDB restructuring: PM orders setting up livestock vaccine production facility

According to Business Recorder, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered a restructuring of the Livestock and Dairy Development Board (LDDB) at a Monday meeting on sector reforms, and gave officials one week to prepare plans for a national vaccine plant. He also wants private experts brought onto the board to strengthen its performance and capacity. The LDDB, created in 2007, has a mandate covering breeding, milk and meat output, and sector growth.

Sharif further instructed the federal government to build a modern livestock vaccine facility from its own funds, with the National Agricultural Research Centre under consideration as the location. Officials informed the meeting that vaccines currently available in Pakistan have not won approval from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), while measures to support domestic purified vaccine output are underway. Special bonded warehouses for imported livestock were also discussed, with the animals to be used in value-added production before meat and dairy exports.

Third-party audits of slaughterhouses have begun to lift export standards, though officials gave no figures on facilities covered or completion dates. The briefing also set no export growth targets, investment needs or deadlines for the wider programme. Sharif stressed that private players ought to drive growth in the livestock industry.