Roving Periscope: Broke Pakistan breeds donkeys—for China!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: A nearly failed, and the rogue state of Pakistan, infamous as the nursery of global terrorism, is now also a breeding ground for donkeys to export and earn some foreign exchange to avert a Sri Lanka-type economic crisis.
Most of these quadrupeds are being exported to China, the media reported.
In 2019-20, Pakistan had 5.5 million donkeys. Their population increased to 5.6 million in 2020-21 and 5.7 million in 2021-22, official surveys showed.
After Ethiopia and China, Pakistan now has the third-largest donkey population in the world. It also represented a broad trend of Islamabad prioritizing agriculture and livestock exports to boost the economy.
Released last week, Pakistan’s Economic Survey for the fiscal year 2021-22 showed a significant rise in the number of donkeys, among other livestock.
Donkeys form a big part of the country’s exports to China. So famous is this export that, in 2021, Pakistan’s hit animated film The Donkey King was also released in China.
While donkeys’ numbers grew last year, the then Imran Khan government had faced stiff opposition in the National Assembly’s budget session, with Opposition parties’ slogan-shouting, like “Donkey raja ki sarkar nahin chalegi.”
The latest economic survey, released by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, showed how the debt-ridden country is turning to livestock exports. The number of sheep, buffalos, and goats has increased too. “The Government has renewed its focus on the livestock sector for economic growth, food security, and poverty alleviation in the country.”
Pakistan’s agriculture sector contributes 14 percent to its GDP. It posted growth of 4.4 percent, mainly because of 6.6 percent growth in crops and 3.3 percent in livestock. Over 8 million rural families are engaged in livestock farming in Pakistan. Many families in Pakistan rely on donkeys as their primary source of income and means of transportation.
The export of livestock is lucrative. “The gross value addition of livestock has increased from Rs 5,269 billion (2020-21) to Rs 5,441 billion (2021-22), showing an increase of 3.26%”, the report said.
In particular, China’s love for donkeys has boosted its breeding. The Chinese biotechnology companies use donkey’s hide as a critical ingredient to produce a traditional medicine called Ejiao, used to improve blood circulation and treat anemia and reproductive ailments. Some Chinese firms planned to invest USD 3 billion in donkey farming in Pakistan.
The Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments have also set up farms to specifically export donkeys to China. In Punjab, the donkey farm, spread over 3,000 acres of land, has been set up at Bahadurnagar.
China needs over four million donkey skins each year to meet its requirement for manufacturing cosmetic products and Ejiao gel. Still, the supply of these animals is fewer than 1.8 million, state-run news agency Xinhua said.
From 11 million donkeys in 1992, according to a 2019 media report, the animal population declined by 76 percent in China by 2021, forcing it to import the quadruped. Before Beijing turned to Islamabad, it imported the donkey skins from Niger and Burkina Faso until the two West African countries banned their export.
Pakistan smelt an opportunity to milk donkey farming. In 2017, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government announced a USD 1 billion project called the “Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa-China Sustainable Donkey Development Programme,” which aimed at increasing the donkey population in the province.
The reports said that they also set up a dedicated donkey hospital in Lahore and two farms in Mansehra and Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan.
In 2015, the Economic Coordination Committee, chaired by then-Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, had temporarily banned the export of donkeys, which has now been lifted.
Much like the illegal trade of ivory tusks of elephants, hippopotamus, narwhal, and walrus, donkeys are slaughtered, and they boil their skins to be used as a critical component in manufacturing the traditional Chinese medicine.
According to research published by Donkey Sanctuary UK, donkeys may disappear because of the rapid decline in their numbers in many countries where it is slaughtered on an industrial scale.
