The Punjab government has set an ambitious target to export 1 million livestock as part of a broader plan to strengthen the province’s meat export sector, officials said.
The decision was taken during a special video-link meeting chaired by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, where key reforms and investment partnerships in the livestock sector were approved.
Officials said the province has signed memorandums of understanding with seven organisations, including a Chinese company, to support meat export operations and develop processing infrastructure.
Under the plan, China’s Global Meat Company, in collaboration with PAMCO, will install a boiler unit in Punjab to facilitate large-scale processed meat exports.
Authorities said private sector partners will import meat from around 300,000 ready-for-export livestock units, while separate targets include fattening 300,000 cattle and buffaloes, 300,000 sheep and goats, and raising 100,000 additional small livestock for export purposes.
The meeting also approved the establishment of state-of-the-art veterinary hospitals in every tehsil of the province. In addition, four mobile veterinary dispensaries per tehsil will be deployed to provide door-to-door animal healthcare services.
The chief minister also doubled the quota for free livestock distribution to rural women, particularly widows and divorced women in southern Punjab, where 9,255 animals have already been provided across 12 districts.
Officials further said 2 million animals will be tagged to streamline tracking and productivity, while 2 million doses of subsidised semen will be provided to improve breeding capacity across farms.
To modernise the sector, the government plans to introduce mechanisation in livestock farming, offering up to 60 percent subsidy on equipment such as milk chillers, feed mixers, weighing scales, milk cans, and other machinery.
Provincial Minister for Livestock Ashiq Hussain Kirmani said the initiative marks the first large-scale mechanisation effort in the sector, aimed at improving productivity and export competitiveness.
Briefings also noted that no cases of lumpy skin disease or glanders have been reported in Punjab since 2022, even after recent floods. Officials highlighted that locally produced vaccines cost significantly less than imported alternatives.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said neglecting the livestock sector in the past was unfortunate, adding that modern livestock farming could become a key driver of economic self-reliance.