Pakistan is one of the very important countries in Asia where commercial layer farming is concerned. With a population of about 200 million people, Pakistan is the 7th most populous country in the world. Its economy is based primarily on agriculture. The majority of the popula – tion is poor and about 70% of the people are living in the rural areas of the country.

The egg is the cheapest source of ani – mal protein available to the people. Alt – hough the per capita egg consumption is around 70 eggs per person, which is very low according to WHO standards, people are becoming more aware about the be – nefits of eggs consumption, particularly the middle class population. It also shows that Pakistan has a huge potential in egg consumption.

In the last decade, commercial layer farming in Pakistan has been changing very rapidly from deep litter systems to modern cage housing. Day by day, more investors are coming very rapidly from the textile industry and other industries to in – vest hugely in modern commercial layer cage farming as well as in prefabricated houses and egg branding machines, the – reby indicating intentions towards the ex – port of eggs to the markets in the Middle East and central Asia. LSL Lite & LSL Ultra Lite

LSL-Lite is a very famous breed throug

– hout the country. This is due to its laying persistency, its good adaptability to cage environment, lesser feed intake and docile nature. The total market share of L SL-Lite in the Pakistani market is 40%.

With the introduction of L SL-Ultra Lite to the Pakistani market, people are beco – ming more interested in buying the new breed due to its lesser feed intake and slightly higher number of eggs with an ac – ceptable egg size.

Seminar Summary

On 25th of February 2016, Lohmann joint – ly organized a seminar with its two major Pakistani customers, Samundri Chicks and Bahoo Chicks. The seminar was attended by almost 250 commercial layer farmers and poultry consultants from all across the Pun – jab province. The guests of honours of the occasion were Dr. Muhammad Sadiq of S a – diq Poultry (the biggest integrator and layer farmer with 1.2 million commercial layers)

and Mr. Mian Qaiser of Shabir group of com – panies with (0.6 million commercial layers). The seminar started at 3:00 o clock in the afternoon. Various national and inter – national speakers presented their valuab – le presentations on different topics with practical approaches for trouble shooting in the commercial layer farming business. There were also presentations from our customers Bahoo Chicks and Samundri Chicks. The latter presented their history and their future plans. The seminar began with a presentation by Mr. Muhammad Anees of Samundri Chicks. He introduced his company and elaborated on their fu – ture expansion plans. Dr. Muhammad Ha – feez Malik of Bahoo Chicks then followed with an introduction of his company and its future intentions.

Dr. Sohail Habib S yed, Sales & Service Manager at Lohmann Tierzucht GmbH (LTZ) Germany, introduced the company and provided information on its variety of breeds across the globe. He also presented LTZ’s shares in the global market.

Mr. Ron Eek, Regional Area Manager for the Asia Pacific Region at LTZ, held a presentation on “Genetics at Lohmann and the continuous improvement of the breed, Lohmann L SL”. He also introduced the L SL-Ultra Lite breed to Pakistan since the Pakistani market demands hens which lay eggs that are medium in size and weight, produce a higher number of eggs per hen housed and have less feed intake – an important advantage considering the high feed prices in the country.

Dr. Muhammad Akram of Mico Labs in Karachi and an ex-consultant Ommat Poultry in Saudi Arabia gave a presentati – on on the “Immune system and vaccinati – on of poultry”.

Dr. Maqsood Jafri, Senior Layer Consul – tant shared his presentation on “Commer – cial layer rearing management and disea – ses which effects the layer production”. Professor Dr. AD Anjum, Senior Poultry Consultant, then elaborated on “Bio-security in poultry farms”.

After these informative presentations, one of the speakers, Dr. Muhammad Sadiq of Sadiq Poultry PVT Ltd., also addressed the audience and thanked all speakers with his valuable comments on taking ac – tive roles to increase the awareness of egg consumption in the country and to end the current crisis of overproduction.

Mr. Muhammad Sharif Malik of Bahoo Chicks and Breeding Farms, expressed his gratitude at the end of the seminar. All the participants were treated to a lavish dinner at the end of seminar.

Dr. Sohail Habib Syed