(November 21, 2022)
Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said some elements are conspiring for a serious food crisis in the country by obstructing the clearance of poultry and livestock feed.
There is a shortage of poultry feed in the country, which can kill a large number of chickens, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that soybean and feed importers have canceled orders and thousands of poultry farms are feared to be closed and millions of people will be out of jobs.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that immediate action should be taken against the conspirators  playing with the country’s food security for the sake of personal interests.
The industrialists related to the poultry sector, Sheikh Zafar Iqbal, Syed Rizwan Jalil, and Sheikh Wali Muhammad, said that soybean seed is being imported regularly since 1992 in its current form, but now suddenly its clearance has been stopped.
Currently, more than 130,000 tons of soybean seeds worth 22 billion rupees are lying in the open at Karachi port, which is not being cleared due to various pretexts.
The soybean seed is a perishable item that is being ruined at the port which the situation could lead to bankrupting the solvent and feed industry and ruining millions of poultry farms, fish farms, and dairy farms.
He added that the future of three hundred feed mills and domestic and foreign investment worth more than 2500 billion rupees is at stake due to the stubbornness of some elements.
The poultry industry accounts for about fifty percent of the country’s meat demand, supplying 3.1 billion kilograms of meat to the public annually while employing more than fifteen million people.
This sector provides protein to the poor and middle class as meat and beef have fallen out of the public’s purchasing power.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the government should realize the seriousness of the matter and immediately release the soybean seed from the port so that the problem of food security does not arise in the country.
