A decade ago, per capita meat production stood at 9.65 kg. [break]
“Per capita meat and fish production stood at 10.78 kg and 2.06 kg respectively in 2011/12, thanks to rise in livestock population,” Dr Hari Dahal, spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture Development, said.
Despite rise in meat production, Nepal is highly dependent on imports of livestock for meat.
According to Dahal, Nepal imported 76,825 heads of live cattle and buffaloes, 476,451 heads of live goats and sheep as well as 432 tons of meat in 2010/11.
Data compiled by the MoAD shows that total number of livestock, which includes poultry, cattle, goats, sheep and buffalo, increased by 70 percent over the past decade to reach 77 million heads in fiscal year 2011/12.
“Production of poultry increased by 140 percent during the period to reach 52.5 million heads in 2011/12,” said Dahal.
Similarly, production of goats increased by 50.5 percent to 9.5 million heads, buffalo production soared by 46 percent to 5.14 million heads and cattle production went up by 3.2 percent to 7.24 million heads in 2011/12, compared to statistics of 1999/2000.
However, production of sheep and duck declined by 5 percent and 11 percent respectively.
“Thanks to rise in production, the ratio of livestock population per person stands at 1: 2.88 which is the highest in South Asia,” said Dahal.
The ratio is 1:0.73 in India, 1:0.64 in Sri Lanka, 1:1.38 in Bangladesh and 1:1.64 in Pakistan.
“Despite rise in the population of buffalo and cattle, we are facing deficit of around 500,000 liters of fresh milk per day,” said Dahal.
According to Dahal, only 26 percent of the total of 5.14 million heads of buffalo and 13 percent of total 7.24 million heads of cattle population produce milk.
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