Green livestock.

A RECENT World Bank report has suggested that livestock produces large share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Pakistan. It is a fact that cattle dung contains gases like methane (60 per cent) and carbon dioxide (40pc). These gases are hazardous as they pollute the air, orchestrate public health anomalies, and are perilous to the livestock. If the dairy sheds are allowed to remain deprived of oxygen and sunlight, they will accumulate more GHGs, thereby harming the ecological parameters.

Mitigation of GHGs can be materialised by training farmers and workers working in livestock and dairy units. They can serve the cause by ensuring optimum ventilation, adequate sunlight, more open yards in farm sheds and lifting dung debris early in the morning, dumping at distant places, and regular cleaning and washing of the sheds with safe antiseptic solutions.

Livestock and dairy farming is an important and yielding sub-sector of agriculture. It provides essential edibles, such as milk and meat. It also provides wool, hair and hides. It is a good source to beef up the national foreign exchange reserves. Besides, it can yield manure to fertilise agrarian lands.

The production of biogas, an econo-mical alternative to natural gas, can also be materialised through it. Additionally, it also contributes...