Progress report for
Dairy Science Park
Achievement at a glance
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. A biennial series of international workshops was initiated and it continued during November, 2011, 2013 and 2015, 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 and the 3rd on entrepreneurship development for the outgoing graduates. The fourth conference was held at Selcuk University Konya, Turkey Nov 1-5, 2017 with the theme, “Achieving Food Security through Entrepreneurship Development and Biorisk Management”Karkila has been launched as a display center of Dairy Science Park Peshawar at Room #3, Floor #3, Azam Tower, Arbab Road, University Road, Peshawar-25000, Pakistan. It’s an attempt to promote farming innovations, university-industries linkages and sustainable development under UN SDG Action 9671, with the cooperation of KP Livestock Farmers Association, Higher Education Commission and United Nations, respectively. The road map will cover the following activities across the Food Value Chain: 1) Farm inputs supplies; 2) Quality control and consultancy; 3) Veterinary services; 4) Farming innovations; 5) Solar technology; 6) Biotechnological products; 7) Farm products processing; 8) Marketing linkages and export and; 9) University-industry linkages
Challenges faced in implementation
Chief Minister approved Task Force on DSP to overcome bureaucratic hurdles faced by stakeholders across livestock value chain. Academia Industries Linkages, Entrepreneurship Development, Public Private Partnership, Consumers Preferences, Quality Control for hygienic and Halal status of products and sustainability through Endowment Fund, were the main features of the Terms of Reference. There was a conflict of interests as the farmers and processors are working without any visible support from the public sector organizations. Development funds are provided to government organizations with no say of the stakeholders. Rates of milk and meat are fixed by district administration at lowest without considering the production cost or quality based grading. So secretary agriculture did not issue relevant Task Force notification. Salary of the Chief Patron, Prof M Subhan Qureshi, University of Agriculture Peshawar was stopped by the Vice Chancellor Prof Noor Pao Khan for a prolonged period of seven months leading to frustration in the family and ultimately death of wife of Prof Qureshi.Beneficiaries
Students, researchers, faculty members, NGO representatives, farmers, exporters and importers, processors from Pakistan and other countries would be facilitated in improving their capacities and removal of technical and marketing barriers in implementation of their activities. Main focus would be on supporting students startups for transformation of their academic wisdom into welfare of the people.
Actions
Stakeholders sensitization workshop for sustainable development across livestock based food value chainCollaborative activities with local partners for achieving the common objectives of generating decent employment and exportable surpluses
Fifth International Conference and Industrial Exhibition on Dairy Science Park at Khartoum, Sudan
Sixth International Conference and Industrial Exhibition on Dairy Science Park at Beni Suef, Egypt