Web Desk(April 27, 2018): The number of donkeys in the country has increased by 100,000 to 5.3 million, revealed the Pakistan Economic Survey 2017-18, released on Thursday.
An overall increase has been seen in the number of livestock in the country.
Nearly eight million families in the country are involved in livestock raising and deriving more than 35 per cent income from livestock production activities. 
During 2017-18, livestock contributed 58.9 per cent to the agriculture value added and 11.1 per cent to the overall gross domestic product (GDP) compared to 58.9 per cent and 11.3 per cent during the corresponding period last year, respectively.
Gross value addition of livestock has also increased from Rs 1,327 billion in 2016-17 to Rs 1,377 billion in 2017-18, showing an increase of 3.8 per cent over the same period last year.
The demand for livestock can be attributed to population growth, increases in per capita income and export opportunities.
The report stated that during the last couple of years, the focus of agriculture lending institutions has been shifting more towards non-farming activities mainly due to new financing avenues and opportunities in livestock/dairy and poultry sectors.
It is a source of cash income, providing a vital and often the only source of income for the rural and playing an important role in poverty alleviation and foreign exchange earnings, the report says.
This can be seen with the increase in the number of livestock in the country with the number of donkeys increasing by nearly a million in the country.
Horses, on the other hand, have remained at a steady 0.4 million throughout the last three years with 1.1 million camels in the country.
The number of goats in the country also saw an increase from last year with 74.1 million goats in the country as per the 2017-2018 economic survey.
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