Comment by Riaz Haq on April 21, 2018 at 9:38am

How big is Pakistan’s meat trade and who’s buying its exports?

https://www.salaamgateway.com/en/story/correctionhow_big_is_pakista...

*Corrects percentage of Pakistan's 10 biggest meat and edible meat offal (MEMO) export buyers to their overall MEMO imports in 2016, from 2.67 percent of $9.258 billion to 2.58 percent, which is equivalent to $238.99 million

Pakistan’s government is exploring new markets for export of meat and dairy products with a focus on the halal trade, according to local press reports.

How big is Pakistan’s meat and dairy trade now and where are its exports going?

EXPORTS

According to ITC Trade Map data, in 2016, Pakistan exported $313.538 million in three categories: 1. Meat and edible meat offal (internal organs) ($239.74 million), 2. Dairy produce; birds’ eggs; natural honey; edible products of animal origin ($67.471 million), and 3. Live animals ($6.327 million).

These three categories account for 1.53 percent of Pakistan’s $20.5 billion exports of all products to the world in 2016.

Meat and edible meat offal (MEMO) is the biggest of the three categories, accounting for 76.5 percent of the three’s exports.

Pakistan’s biggest export is textiles and textile articles, which brought in $9.481 billion in nine months from November 2016 to July 2017, according to most recent data from the State Bank of Pakistan.

BIGGEST MEMO BUYERS

Pakistan exported $238.99 million, or 99.69 percent, of all its MEMO in 2016 to 10 countries: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Vietnam, Bahrain, Oman, Afghanistan, Qatar, Thailand, and Malaysia.

However, Pakistan is a small MEMO export player. Its 10 biggest MEMO export markets imported a total of $9.258 billion of MEMO in 2016, out of which only 2.58 percent came from Pakistan.

BEEF, MOSTLY

Fresh or chilled beef is Pakistan’s biggest MEMO export, making up 56.86 percent, or $136.319 million, of its MEMO exports in 2016. This is followed by $44.726 million of chilled or frozen meat of sheep or goats, and $31.554 million of frozen meat of bovines.

Only around $3.06 million, or 1.28 percent, of Pakistan’s MEMO exports are poultry-based.

The nation hopes to change this by targeting an increase in poultry-based MEMO sales to UAE, its biggest MEMO export market, after the GCC country lifted its ban on Pakistan’s poultry and its products in February this year. UAE imposed the ban in 2006 after an outbreak of avian influenza in Pakistan. 

UAE imported an estimated $725.247 million of poultry products in 2016, 66.2 percent, or $480.224 million, of which came from Brazil.

Comment by Riaz Haq on April 21, 2018 at 9:51am

Dressing (Preferred meat) vs Offal (Orhan meats etc) percentages in a study in Peshawar Pakistan

Data on age wise proportion of cattle slaughtered at Peshawar suggested that largest counts (24.35 %) ofcattle were slaughtered at the age of 41- 50 months followed by 21-30 and 51- 60 months age groups (Table I).Animals of age 41-50 months were higher in slaughter proportion and most within this group were females. Lowermilk yield during their first lactation might be a cause for their removal from the herd and sale to butchers. Animalsolder than 61 months age group showed the lowest proportion, because older meat is not preferred by consumers inPeshawar. They mostly prefer meat from animals aged 21-50 months.

Dressing percentage data of the above mention breeds of animals showed that Dajal male gave the highest value (55.7%) followed by non- descript males (54.0%) and Lohanni males (53.6%) (Table II). Mekasha et al.,(2011) studies the African zebu cattle Ogaden bull and reported that dressing percentage was 54.7. Jabbar et al.,(2009) obtained a similar trend in their studies. According to their study the Dajal breed cattle showed highest (5 8.0)dressing percentage. The higher DP value of the Dajal in their study was probably because animals were fed for 92days on mixed concentrate diet and especially reared for body weight gain, whereas, the in present study animal

DRESSING PERCENTAGE AND OFFAL PRODUCTION... (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273724540_DRESSING_PERCENT... [accessed Apr 21 2018].

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 24, 2020 at 8:32pm

Asafoetida (Heeng): The smelly spice #India loves but never grew. It's imported from #Afghanistan, #Iran. Known to battle flatulence, it is often recommended in recipes that involve gassy foods such as lentils (daal) or beans. #Ayurveda #Gas https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54617077

Asafoetida, a smelly, acrid spice beloved by Indians, has been used to lace their food for centuries. But it was never cultivated in the region - until now.

Last week, scientists planted about 800 saplings of the plant in Lahaul and Spiti, a cold desert nestled in the Himalayan mountains, exactly two years after India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) imported six varieties of seeds from Iran.

"We are confident it will work," says Dr Ashok Kumar, one of the scientists who painstakingly germinated the seeds in a lab. He says this was necessary because for every 100 seeds, only two sprout. The plant, it turns out, has a vexing habit of going dormant.

"It goes to sleep to adapt to harsh conditions," Dr Kumar says.

Asafoetida, or hing as it's commonly known in India, is a perennial, flowering plant that largely grows in the wild. It thrives in dry soil in temperatures under 35C. So India's tropical plateaus and plains, humid coast and heavy monsoons rule out much of the country for hing farming.

Instead, Indians rely on imports mostly from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan - worth more than $100m in 2019 - to get their fix.

This is surprising news for many Indians who would argue that hing is inherently Indian. For many Hindus and Jains, who don't eat onion and garlic because of dietary restrictions, hing's pungency makes it an ideal substitute.

"I use it in all my dals, and I don't cook them with onion or garlic," says Marryam Reshii, food writer and author of The Flavour of Spice. "When you have hing in your food, that tiny whiff of it... it just tastes so, so great!"

Ms Reshii calls herself a "hing lover" - she even put out a detailed thread earlier this week clarifying the origins and uses of her favourite spice.

She says hing's unique smell, a strong, bitter odour, makes it "unlike any other spice".

It even derives its name from that scent - asafoetida in Latin means "fetid gum". The smell is so strong that raw hing, a greyish-white sticky resin collected from the roots, is dried and mixed with flour - wheat in India's north, rice in the south - to turn it into an edible spice. Wholesalers who import hing use tiny amounts of it to make graded variations that sell in the form of blocks, coarse granules or a fine powder.

Although the Persians once called it "the food of the gods", hing is now barely found in cuisines outside of India. In other parts of the world it's either used for medicinal reasons or as an insecticide! But In India, which, by some estimates, accounts for 40% of the world's hing consumption, it's hard to overstate its role in the kitchen.

A dash of it while cumin seeds and red chillies splutter in hot ghee can make an everyday dal sing. Across the country, it seasons delicately spiced soups (shorbas) and fresh relishes (koshambirs) and spikes leafy greens and vegetables tossed in ginger, turmeric and tomatoes. In the north, Kashmiri Hindus stir it in with lamb, red chillies, fennel and dried ginger to make their classic rogan josh and southerners use it to temper their sambars, a variety of steaming lentil stew topped with mustard seeds and curry leaves. It's what sets apart Kolkata's famed hing kachoris (pastries fried to a crisp) and the fluffy idlis (steamed rice cakes) of the temple town of Kanchipuram.


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But he says Kabuli hing is a "hot-selling" item, while Hadda hing, which is "sweeter and smells of oranges" is the least popular.

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 24, 2020 at 9:58pm

Meet Hing: The Secret-Weapon Spice Of Indian Cuisine

by Carolyn Beans

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/22/482779599/meet-hing...

The moment my boyfriend — now husband — and I got serious about our future together, my father-in-law got serious about teaching me to cook Indian cuisine. My boyfriend was already skilled in the kitchen. But Dr. Jashwant Sharma wanted extra assurance that the dishes from his native country would always have a place in our home. Plus, as he told me recently, he thought I'd like it.



"We mix four, five, six different spices in a single dish. These create a taste and aroma that you don't get in any other food. People exposed to it usually like it," he said.

Even before our cooking sessions, I knew that cumin and coriander are common ingredients and that turmeric will turn your fingers yellow. Hing, however, was something entirely new to me.

Europeans gave it the decidedly unflattering moniker "devil's dung." Even its more common English name, asafoetida, is derived from the Latin for fetid. Those unaccustomed to it can respond negatively to its strong aroma, a mix of sulfur and onions.


Hing comes from the resin of giant fennel plants that grow wild in Afghanistan and Iran. The resin can be kept pure, but in the States, you mostly find it ground to a powder and mixed with wheat. In The Book of Spice, author John O'Connell describes how Mughals from the Middle East first brought hing to India in the 16th century.

Many Indians use hing to add umami to an array of savory dishes. But for the uninitiated, hing can be a tough sell. Kate O'Donnell, author of The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook, says that she only included hing as an optional spice. "For a Western palette, hing can be shocking," she says

I first encountered hing in one of our early cooking sessions. My father-in-law whipped its well-sealed white plastic bottle out of the cupboard, added a pinch to the pan, and put it back so quickly that I didn't notice the smell. I was most struck by how it bubbled and then dissolved in the hot ghee (clarified butter). And I was a bit skeptical that a pinch of anything could influence a giant pot of lentils liberally seasoned with three other spices.

Later, while experimenting on my own, I got my first full whiff of the spice. To me, the aroma is far from gag-inducing, but it takes a real leap of faith to add it to food. Once you make that leap, magical things happen.

When cooked, hing's pungent odor mellows to a more mild leek- and garlic-like flavor. Some still smell a hint of sulfur, but for many that quality fades entirely. My father-in-law says that hing has a balancing effect on a dish. "It smooths out the aroma of all the other spices and makes them all very pleasant," he says.

Vikram Sunderam, a James Beard Award winner and chef at the Washington, D.C., Indian restaurants Rasika West End and Rasika Penn Quarter, says that he adds hing to lentil or broccoli dishes. But he uses it judiciously.

"Hing is a very interesting spice, but it has to be used in the right quantity," he cautions. "Even a little bit too much overpowers the whole dish, makes it just taste bitter."

Some believe that hing helps with digestion and can ward off flatulence. Perhaps that's why many — including Sunderam — add it to legumes, broccoli and other potentially gas-inducing vegetables.

Some Indians also use it as a substitute for garlic and onions — ingredients discouraged by certain Eastern religions and Ayurvedic medicine.

That substitution makes sense to Gary Takeoka, a food chemist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Takeoka studied hing's volatiles — the chemical compounds that produce smells. "A major proportion of hing's volatiles are sulfur compounds," he explains. "Some of these are similar to the ones found in onions and garlic."

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 8, 2021 at 7:28am

Like in other countries, culinary cultures fall along economic and social class lines in Pakistan. While the lower classes go to the cheap Pakistani restaurants and khokhas—roadside eateries, serving oily, spicy dishes, the middle and upper classes dine at more fashionable, pricey and exclusive places. The elite prefers a variety of Chinese, Thai, Italian, Mediterranean and American type high quality grill and steak houses. Major cities in Pakistan have very rapidly embraced a globalized, cosmopolitan food culture, offering a rich variety of cuisines.

https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1805416

We never thought the world would change so quickly with the globalization of markets, technologies, communications and intermixing of world cultures. Theoretically, the whole world is open for competition but what is actually sold and bought in the food industry has followed the familiar patterns of global domination. The power and influence of American popular culture, which besides music, film and sports, is reflected in fast-food chains, symbolizes hegemony. It means consumers have accepted everything of their own free will. There is a very broad body of people from every class and walk of life all over the world that wear jeans, t-shirts, and stand in queues to get a slice of pizza or a burger at outlets replicating American design, American colors and uniforms behind the counters.
Pakistan’s national cuisine is as varied as in any country, representing many regional, local and traditional dishes. However, the effects of commercialization and food chain culture can also be seen in the opening of specific food outlets in different cities. I believe it is one of the positive gains of global food chains opening up here. The other is the employment of young women as waiters and cash-register workers in at least three major cities—Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.


Interestingly, local food businesses have very quickly adapted to the changing tastes of Pakistanis by offering their own brands of pizza, burgers and fried chicken. In small and major cities, there are hundreds of local fast-food outlets that offer cheaper, affordable alternatives to expensive foreign brands. In every market of Pakistan, a one man burger cart will hit you in the face displaying the colorful photograph of an American style burger.
Like in other countries, culinary cultures fall along economic and social class lines in Pakistan. While the lower classes go to the cheap Pakistani restaurants and khokhas—roadside eateries, serving oily, spicy dishes, the middle and upper classes dine at more fashionable, pricey and exclusive places. The elite prefers a variety of Chinese, Thai, Italian, Mediterranean and American type high quality grill and steak houses. Major cities in Pakistan have very rapidly embraced a globalized, cosmopolitan food culture, offering a rich variety of cuisines.
Another remarkable shift is reflected in the opening up of coffee houses in major cities. Pakistan is still largely a tea-drinking country with a special taste for doodh-patti—tea brewed in milk and sugar. Many decades back, only the elite would have coffee on their breakfast tables or academics in the offices. It is now becoming a popular hot drink, thanks to motorways and the common belief that high doses of caffeine keep you awake behind the wheel.
Present day urban elite food culture is transforming itself to exclusive clubs on the front yards of shopping centers, on rooftops, and in the special dining rooms of five-star hotels. It is the prohibitive cost of having a cup of coffee or a piece of pastry on a porcelain plate that keeps the common man away--not unusual in elite cultures and elite-driven economies like that of Pakistan.

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 10, 2021 at 9:55am

Pulses: More than just a meat alternative
Beans, peas and lentils are often overlooked when it comes to food staples. In a world where the devastating environmental impact of mass meat production is becoming increasingly clear, could pulses provide a solution?

https://www.dw.com/en/pulses-more-than-just-a-meat-alternative/a-56...

Pulses, a broad category of edible seeds that includes pantry staples like lentils, beans, peas and chickpeas, are one of the world's most important food crops.

This underrated legume has featured heavily in diets around the world for thousands of years. Pulses are the main source of protein for people who don't eat meat — whether by choice or by circumstance — they're good for the environment, nutritious and tasty.

In recent years, the United Nations has recognized their global significance and declared February 10 as World Pulses Day. Read on to learn more about this humble superfood.

Environmentally friendly meat alternative
Changing our diet, and how we produce what we eat, can have a huge and positive impact on the planet.

A recent key report on food and biodiversity loss linked global eating habits to around 30% of human-made emissions in terms of energy and fertilizer, making them a "key driver of climate change." It also highlighted the devastating impact of our food production on nature.

A big part of the problem is meat and other animal products. Though it might be a good source of protein, meat is terrible for the environment. Getting a kilogram of beef to your kitchen emits as much as 60 kilograms (130 pounds) of CO2-equivalent, according to a 2018 study published in Science. And with the world population set to surpass 10 billion in a little over 30 years, increasing demand for food — especially meat and monocrops like wheat, corn and soybeans — will further stress the climate, limited natural resources and biodiversity.

Pulses like peas and lentils, however, produce some 0.9 kg of CO2-equivalent for every kilo grown. And they provide a far higher protein yield per square kilometer than a herd of cattle or flock of chickens, meaning existing farmland can be used more efficiently and untouched forests can be spared.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has promoted pulses as "a good alternative to meat," pointing out that they "can play a key role in future healthy and sustainable diets." In recent years, calls from environmental groups for people in the Western world to drastically reduce their meat consumption, has inspired a growing trend toward vegetarian and vegan diets.

In a September analysis, climate data provider Carbon Brief said "a global switch to veganism would deliver the largest emissions savings out of any dietary shift," preventing some 8 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions annually by 2050. Current food production is responsible for around 13.7 billion tons per year.

"It is now becoming clear that a plant-based diet is not just a crock," said Christina Ledermann, head of the German advocacy group Humans for Animal Rights. "The future of nutrition is plant-based, or there is no future."

Comment by Riaz Haq on January 28, 2022 at 7:34am

Commercial production of kidney beans to start soon in Pakistan


https://www.dawn.com/news/1670834

ISLAMABAD: The first-ever production of kidney bean varieties at commercial level will commence soon as the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (Parc) will release six new varieties of common bean varieties in the country.

According to a Parc report made available to Dawn on Friday, the achievement is part of the promotion of common bean cultivation in Pakistan under the five-year project for the promotion of research for productivity enhancement in pulses launched in 2019. The project has been funded by the Public Sector Development Programme with an amount of Rs1,437 million.

The report says shuttle multiplication has been proposed for the promotion of kidney beans in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the spring season and upper regions in the kharif season.

Scientists engaged in the pulse project say Pakistan has become self-sufficient in moong bean as its production was recorded at 267,000 tonnes against the national requirement of 180,000 tonnes.

The major focus of the project is to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses production by increasing the yield of major pulse crops, including chickpea, lentil, moong, mash and kidney beans, by 30 per cent.

Under the umbrella project, till now 3,792 lines have been tested throughout the country in 25 different locations through national uniform yield trials to evaluate and select promising lines for varieties development.

As the country was facing acute shortage of quality seed of pulses, basic and pre-basic seed production has been carried out on about 1,107 acres through which 6,553 tonnes of seed has been produced and distributed among the farmers.

Parc officials say availability of quality seed of improved cultivars is the prime contributing factor towards achieving self-sufficiency in pulses. To ensure this, varietal trials have been conducted in different agro-climatic zones of the country and the seed of identified best varieties was distributed among the farmers.

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 10, 2022 at 10:32am

World Pulses Day 2022: Legumes or pulses are seeds cultivated out of leguminous plants for food. Beans, peas and lentils are the most common and most consumed types of pulses. We Indians, consume pulses to a large extent in our daily diet. Moreover, pulses are consumed in various other forms across the world. February 10 is observed as World Pulses Day every year and is being celebrated by the United Nations since 2009. Read to know more about World Pulses Day.

HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF WORLD PULSES DAY
The United Nations learned the importance of crops in the year 2013. In 2016, they declared that year to be the International Year of pulses through their resolution A/RES/68/231. Then in 2019, they decided to dedicate the day to pulses to increase awareness and globally accesspulsestoWorldPulsesDay. The UN also hopes to double the cultivation of pulses by the year 2050.

Pulses hold protein values and are important to a healthy and nutritional diet. They play an important role in maintaining your health and weight. Legume crops help in increasing the feasibility of the agricultural production system. They also play a crucial role in the food chain security, degraded health, and climate change. The theme of the chosen year 2016 was ‘Nutritional Seeds for a Sustainable Future’. The theme for the year is selected by the UN, every year.

THE THEME OF PULSES DAY 2022
According to the UN, the theme ofWorldPulsesDay 2022 will be - ‘Pulsesto empower youth in achieving sustainable agri-food systems.’ The programme will focus on testimonies and perspectives or youth organisations’ representatives. As per the UN, pulses contribute to creating livelihood opportunities and equity which are essential for sustainable agrifood systems. Pulses also employ women from the rural areas and the youth in farming as well as the manufacturing sectors.

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 10, 2022 at 10:32am

World Pulses Day will be marked on February 10 across the globe including Pakistan to recognize the importance of pulses (chickpeas, dry beans, lentils, dry peas and lupins among others) as a global food.


https://nation.com.pk/07-Feb-2022/world-pulses-day-to-be-marked-on-...

This celebration is recognition of the decisive role that pulses can play in achieving the comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative goals and targets of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a plan of action that seeks to strengthen universal peace.

Pulse crops have a lower carbon footprint than most foods because it required a small amount of fertilizer to grow.

They also have a low water footprint as they are adapted to semi-arid conditions and can tolerate drought stress. But it’s not just the sustainability factor: Pulses are inexpensive, easy to store, highly-nutritious, and their ability to enhance the soil microbiome has been key in improving farming techniques in low-income rural areas.World Pulses Day will provide an opportunity to raise awareness about the nutritional benefits of pulses as part of sustainable food production with the aim of enhancing food security and nutrition.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 9, 2022 at 5:05pm

Pakistan Economic Survey: Health & Nutrition 2021-22

https://www.finance.gov.pk/survey/chapter_22/PES11-HEALTH.pdf

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in Pakistan has declined to 54.2 deaths per 1,000 live births
in 2020 from 55.7 in 2019, while Neonatal Mortality Rate declined to 40.4 deaths per
1,000 live births in 2020 from 41.2 in 2019. Percentage of birth attended by skilled
health personnel increased to 69.3 percent in 2020 from 68 percent in 2019 (DHS & UNICEF). Maternal Mortality Ratio fell to 186 maternal deaths per 100,000 births in
2020, from 189 in 2019 (Table 11.1).
With a population growing at 2 percent per annum, Pakistan’s contraceptive prevalence
rate in 2020 decreased to 33 percent from 34 percent in 2019 (Trading Economics).
Pakistan’s tuberculosis incidence is 259 per 100,000 population and HIV prevalence rate
is 0.12 per 1,000 population in 2020.


Table 11.1: Health Indicators of Pakistan
2019 2020
Maternal Mortality Ratio (Per 100,000 Births)* 189 186
Neonatal Mortality Rate (Per 1,000 Live Births) 41.2 40.4
Mortality Rate, Infant (Per 1,000 Live Births) 55.7 54.2
Under-5 Mortality Rate (Per 1,000) 67.3 65.2
Incidence of Tuberculosis (Per 100,000 People) 263 259
Incidence of HIV (Per 1,000 Uninfected Population) 0.12 0.12
Life Expectancy at Birth, (Years) 67.3 67.4
Births Attended By Skilled Health Staff (% of Total)** 68.0 (2015) 69.3 (2018)
Contraceptive Prevalence, Any Methods (% of Women Ages 15-49) 34.0 33
Source: WDI, UNICEF, Trading Economics & Our World in data
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Food and nutrition

Calories/day 2019-20 2457 2020-21 2786 2021-22 2735

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Table 11.9: Availability of Major Food Items per annum (Kg per capita)
Food Items 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 (P)**
Cereals 139.9 170.8 164.7
Pulses 7.8 7.6 7.3
Sugar 23.3 28.5 28.3
Milk (Liter) 168.7 171.8 168.8
Meat (Beef, Mutton, Chicken) 22.0 22.9 22.5
Fish 2.9 2.9 2.9
Eggs (Dozen) 7.9 8.2 8.1
Edible Oil/ Ghee 14.8 15.1 14.5
Fruits & Vegetables 53.6 52.4 68.3
Calories/day 2457 2786 2735
Source: M/o PD&SI (Nutrition Section)

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