[{"bbox": [96, 153, 1135, 419], "category": "Text", "text": "Under the Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework the Government of Balochistan is envisaging to scale up the provision of livestock feed, fodder, veterinary drugs, and restocking of small animals, especially targeting women and the most vulnerable households. In the medium to longer term, various capacity-building trainings would be conducted with small and medium farmers and livestock keepers on risk mitigation practices, such as support to eco-friendly and climate smart agriculture and livestock rearing, according to the government assessment. The projects will promote the awareness and developing standardised weather and holistic hazard index-based insurance systems for crops and livestock that target smallholders. From the EU perspective and vision, the approach would be consistent and strategically complimentary with the existing projects on range land rehabilitation with respect to fodder production and trade led development of value chain for enhanced household income opportunities."}, {"bbox": [85, 433, 340, 463], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2 Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [96, 480, 1134, 586], "category": "Text", "text": "Pakistan experienced a range of adverse weather conditions during early and mid-2022, alternating between periods of no rains, excessive heat (leading to localised drought), to excessive monsoon precipitation levels from June to August. With respect to Balochistan, precipitation exceeded seven times the average monthly precipitation between June and July 2022."}, {"bbox": [96, 612, 1134, 772], "category": "Text", "text": "The main economic sector affected by the flooding was the agriculture sector that is the backbone of the Pakistan economy accounting for more than one fifth of the GDP, of which 14% is attributable to the livestock sector (2021-22). Animal husbandry is the most significant economic activity of rural dwellers - more than 8 million rural families are engaged in livestock production, deriving between 35-40% income. Women play a leading role in generating this income. They are responsible for 60-80% of the feeding and milking of the cattle. They cut fodder, clean sheds, milk diary animals, process animal products and look after the health of the herd⁵."}, {"bbox": [96, 798, 1134, 984], "category": "Text", "text": "Gross value addition of livestock has increased from PKR 5,269 billion (EUR 16.5 million) in (2020-21) to PKR 5,441 billion (EUR 17 million) in (2021-22), i.e. an increase of 3.26% (base year 2015-16). Given the significance of this sector, the Pakistan Government has renewed its livestock focus as a central rural basis for economic growth, food security, and poverty alleviation. In particular, in the Pakistan Vision 2025⁶, the government committed to increase public investment in agriculture and to target livestock owners below subsistence level to help increase their overall food security, improving technology and practices with a view to targeting and enhancing high value-added products and opportunities."}, {"bbox": [96, 1010, 1134, 1460], "category": "Text", "text": "The livestock sector is a pillar of the global food system and a contributor to poverty reduction, food security and agricultural development. According to the FAO, livestock contributes 40% of the global value of agricultural output and supports the livelihoods and food and nutrition security of almost 1.3 billion people⁷. At the same time, there is wide scope to improve livestock sector practices so that they are more sustainable, more equitable, and pose less risk to animal and human health, and climate⁸. Livestock rearing is mainly dependent upon forage from rangelands. Rangelands represent a major part of the land use in Balochistan. The gross rangeland area in the province is 32.2 million ha; out of this gross area, 21 million ha (65%) is defined as grazing lands. This resource provides ecological, economic and social benefits to a large number of poor farmers. The livelihoods of local women and men mainly depend on the products and services from such lands. These rangelands support around 70% of the animal forage requirements. Despite the fact that livestock management has always been considered to be the sole responsibility of women, their involvement in decision-making regarding this area remains limited. According to Shafaq Arshad et al. (2010) age, male dominance and traditional belief system constitute the main factors which had affected the involvement of rural women in decision-making processes. However due to mismanagement and climate change the productivity, services and functions of the rangelands have dropped to 30% compared to the optimal potential. The recent floods also badly affected rangeland resources. Thus, there is urgent need to restore these degraded ecosystems as well as to develop strategic interventions to enhance women's social right in livestock sector."}, {"bbox": [85, 1501, 1144, 1551], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁵ Shafaq Arshad et al. 2010. Gender and decision making process in livestock management. Sarhad J Agric 26 (4): 693-696 https://www.aup.edu.pk/sj.pdf/GENDER%20AND%20DECISION%20MAKING.pdf"}, {"bbox": [85, 1550, 678, 1573], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁶ https://www.pc.gov.pk/uploads/vision2025/Pakistan-Vision-2025.pdf"}, {"bbox": [85, 1573, 449, 1597], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁷ http://www.fao.org/animal-production/en/"}, {"bbox": [85, 1597, 1142, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁸ Moving Towards Sustainability: The Livestock Sector and the World Bank; https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/brief/moving-towards-sustainability-the-livestock-sector-and-the-world-bank"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1682, 1144, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 6 of 29"}]