Solving the poultry puzzle.

Byline: Khawaja Amer

Exports play an important role in a country's economy, influencing the level of economic growth, employment and the balance of payments. The fundamental relation between economic growth and exports has long been a subject of discussion and debate among economists, the public sector and trade professionals. They believe that export growth is one of the main indicators of economic growth in production and employment. This is called the Export-led Growth (ELG) hypothesis. Do our finance managers believe in ELG and is the tax regime prepared by them fair enough for local entrepreneurs to grow and become exporting entities? To find answers, let us examine the factors affecting our competitiveness in poultry - a great source of protein and an important building block for bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood. It may be mentioned here that Pakistan, along with other developing countries, is also facing the problem of acute protein malnutrition. Unfortunately we have not been able to make our presence felt in the international Halal food market which has reached $3.7 trillion. Studies reveals that those involved in the poultry business with state-of-the-art units are not in a position to survive even in the local market.

Despite being the 9th largest chicken producer in the world with 1.2 million broilers produced during 2018-19, Pakistan has only 5 poultry processing plants, processing less than 5 per cent of the total broilers produced. On the other hand, the world's 8 largest broiler producers and also a number of countries producing far below our production, process more than 95 per cent of the total broilers produced in their respective countries. The difference is mind boggling! This is only because of the tax anomaly. Quite contrary to this fact, in Pakistan, out of the total broilers produced, 95 per cent are sold through the unorganized and unhygienic wet market whereas only 5 per cent are routed through state-of-the-art units for processing and value addition, posting a huge chunk to the government treasury in the form of various taxes. It goes without saying that it is time for the government to take measures enabling our entrepreneurs to support the country in reducing its trade deficit. There is a dire need to revisit the taxation policy and revise it with consultation of stakeholders. The government should take a bold step soon to install this process if it wishes to promote industries, create jobs and take...