**8. Conclusions**

The dairy industry in Pakistan represents smallholding with subsistence- or market-oriented farming followed by peri-urban or commercial-level farming. Historically, dairy sector has been owned and managed by the private sector. The population of dairy animals as well as milk production from these animals is increasing at a constant steady rate every year. The per animal productivity of the local dairy cows and buffaloes remained the same over the years; however, crossbreeding and import of elite dairy cows tended to increase in pursuance of increased productivity per animal. During the past two decades, various changes have been brought about in various subsectors as a result of new initiatives taken by the corporate private sector. These efforts have resulted in enlargement in the size of dairy units, improvements in milk collection, processing and marketing, increased supply of dairy inputs (machinery, equipment, feeds, semen, and elite dairy animals), and enhanced farmers knowledge and skills on modern management practices.

Conclusively, the dairy sector is performing at some sustainable level to meet the food requirements of the growing population. Yet, challenges like local replacements of high genetic potential dairy animals, health hazards of β-casein proteins, antibiotics and aflatoxins, and uneconomical operational costs facing the dairy industry in the near future need to be addressed.
