Meeting between Punjab Agriculture and Meat Company & Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Investment Company

Monday, January 6, 2014

A meeting between the Punjab Agriculture and Meat Company (PAMCO) and the Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Investment Company (SALIC).

   
Date: January 06, 2013
Venue: Punjab Agriculture & Meat Company (PAMCO) office, Shaheen Complex, Lahore
Time: 11:00 AM
 
The Acting Chief Executive Officer of PAMCO addressed the meeting by saying that PAMCO has developed state of the art slaughterhouses in accordance with the vision of the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif. As SALIC is interested only in investing in red meat in Pakistan, he said that there is an abundant supply of red meat in Pakistan and camel meat can also be provided. He added that the camels bred in Pakistan are suitable for use in Saudi Arabia due to similar climate. The acting CEO concluded by saying that he hoped Pakistan would be categorized as an agricultural state for Saudi Arabia and that Pakistan can import large quantities to not only Saudi Arabia, but also to the rest of the Middle East and Egypt. PAMCO desires to establish a traceable meat value chain that will provide greater information regarding the country the meat is coming from, including details of the exact province and village. 
 
Mr. Abdullah from SALIC gave a brief introduction of the company and how it started, during the food crisis of 2008 in order to ensure greater food security. It was created by the Ministry of Finance of Saudi Arabia on the executive order of King Abdullah. He said that the greatest determinant of meat being imported in Saudi Arabia is its shape and taste, which depends upon the quality of the feed given to the animal. As Pakistan uses almost the same feed as Saudi Arabia, it is an advantage. Another advantage for Pakistan is that the animals are slaughtered in accordance with the Shariah law, which suits the Saudi requirements.
 
The Chief Financial Officer of PAMCO gave a presentation in which he said that the vision of PAMCO is to “develop each district’s own agro-livestock products.” He said that Pakistan is the fourth largest milk producer in the world and has the 3rd largest goat population. He said that over 500 tons of meat is now traceable and explained the trace-tag reading process.
 
The idea of contractual farming was also discussed. Through contractual farming, farmers can find out exactly what the buyer wants and a contract will ensure that they follow the standards that are required. 
An owner of a state of the art slaughterhouse in Pakistan explained to the delegates of SALIC how they process and determine if the animal that is brought to them should be slaughtered or rejected. The animal first undergoes an inspection. If approved it is slaughtered, otherwise it is rejected. A team from the slaughterhouse also inspects what kind of feed the animals are being given and they often provide a feeding regime to the farmers as well to ensure that the animal meets the standards that are required for importing meat to certain parts of the world.