VISION
To support the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Northern Areas of Pakistan, the adjoining regions in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and China and other regions of the World, through generation of decent employment and exportable surpluses across Food Value Chain
MISSION
Utilization of indigenous human and natural resources for welfare of the people around the Globe, through academia – industry linkages, with focus on entrepreneurship development, Halal/hygienic food production, biorisk management and production of quality-certified products
BACKGROUND
Dairy Science Park (The Park/DSP) has been introduced as a sacred mission for welfare of people of the Region through generation of self-employment and hygienic/Halal food production. The Park has been registered as a Society with the Government of KP, Pakistan and accepted by the United Nations as #UNSDGAction9671. In line with the vision of the Higher Education Commission, the business incubation concepts were integrated into postgraduate research ongoing at the Faculty, shaping up the University – Industry linkages.
Interventions
A biennial series of international workshops was initiated and it continued during November, 2011, 2013 and 2015, 2017 and 2019, each by 450+ delegates, with 100+ technical papers and industrial exhibition. The proceedings were published online/printed and in impact factor journals. The 1st workshop focused on post-flood revival of dairy industry, the 2nd on meat potential of the region, the 3rd on entrepreneurship development for the outgoing graduates, the 4th on biorisk management and the 5th on emerging trends and opportunities. The first three conference were held at Peshawar, the 4th at Selcuk University Konya, Turkey and the 5th at Quetta.
Entrepreneurship Support
Emerging industries in milk and meat processing and marketing have been provided technical and Quality Control certification support to relieve legal threats from the District Administration, who focus on price capping of milk and meat rather than quality. Meat shops established on modern lines of hygiene produce quality beef; however, such facilities are raided by the government agencies on the basis of higher prices. DSP facilitates inspection of such facilities provide SOPs for quality standards and issue a certificate. Similar services are being extended to private slaughter houses and meat/milk processing centers and other emerging entrepreneurs.
The Roadmap
A road map has been prepared for developing a Hygienic/Halal meat export base. The plan is aimed at introducing good practices into livestock SMEs. The plan has been supported by the provincial Agriculture Minister, Special Assistants to Chief Minister KP on Law and Livestock. Sandia National Lab USA has been supporting DSP under a Biorisk Management Collaboration. Four consultative workshops have been held in Amsterdam, Dubai, Bangkok and Puket, Phuket, Colombo, Konya, Amman and Dubai-II, participated by 105 members of DSP for curriculum development and integration of biorisk management concept into the food value chain. A BRM package was developed for integration into Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in Pakistani Universities, under the supervision of Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations engaged Prof M Subhan Qureshi as National Consultant Livestock with the mutually agreed TORs requiring development of the Action Plan with estimated budget for Livestock Sector Development and Transformation, based on KP Livestock Policy; covering regulatory issues, value chain development, private sector engagement and overall required capacity at provincial and district levels; to elaborate on roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders focused on institutional reforms; review the current policy/strategies/program and align livestock sector priorities. All the participants except representative of the DG LDD Ext agreed on establishment of an autonomous body with full administrative, legislative, regulatory and financial authority. Livestock Technopark Peshawar (LTP) was suggested by the Mission, on the basis of FAO opinion on good governance, to build institutions and mechanisms that provide international norms, standards and data, promote international cooperation, and support an enabling environment for effective collective action to solve problems that cannot be addressed, or as effectively addressed, working at national level alone. The LTP would be an autonomous corporate body with legislative, regulatory, financial and administrative power to support entrepreneurship development and protect interests of the producers, processors, service providers and marketing partners. DSP considers the plan as a Good Governance model to be implemented in letter and spirit.
Later on International Trade Centre was joined as National Consultant for formulating Balochistan Livestock Breeding Policy 2022 and Action Plan for transformation of the Livestock Breeding Value Chain into a network of Entrepreneurship models. Four government departments of Livestock, Forest, Local Government and Industries were engaged in addition to four Universities of BU,BUITEMS, SBKWU and LUAWMS. Quetta CCI covered the Livestock farmers, processors, service providers and marketing partners. These organisations were linked through Livestock Technopark Quetta to achieve the objective of the Policy.