Livestock production and population census in Pakistan: Determining their relationship with agricultural GDP using econometric analysis

Abstract Livestock is a subsector of Pakistan agriculture which contributes approximately 56% of value addition in agriculture and nearly 11% to the gross domestic product (GDP). Livestock production makes a major contribution to agriculture value added services. In order to highlight the actual performance of livestock production and livestock and poultry products, the study explored the relationship between agricultural GDP and livestock product output, including milk, beef, mutton, poultry meat, eggs, wool, hair, skins, hides and bones, in Pakistan over the 35 year period from 1980 to 2015. Time series data were collected from the National Food Security and Research, the Economic Survey of Pakistan and the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (various publications). Livestock data were analysed using the ordinary least squares (OLS) method and the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test, and the results were interpreted using the Johansen co-integration test. Our study found that the output of milk, fat, eggs, bones and mutton has a positive, significant relationship to the agricultural GDP of Pakistan, while the output of beef, poultry meat, wool, hair, skins and hides has a negative, insignificant relationship to the agricultural GDP of Pakistan. Therefore, the study suggests that the government of Pakistan initiates new funding schemes for the development of the livestock sector.