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It is without doubt that Nagaland happens to be perhaps the highest consumer of pigs even though other states in the north east too are not far behind. According to various data, the state imports over Rs.300 crore of live animals of which around Rs.200 crore is on pigs. The news that Punjab has agreed to export 8000 pigs a month or 96,000 pigs annually to Nagaland involving a transaction of around Rs.200 crore is welcome. The pigs are bred by Punjab pig farmers who will liaise with the state government for obtaining fitness\/health certificate. There is no reason to doubt the assurance given by Punjab animal husbandry minister Balbir Singh Sidhu to a delegation from Nagaland. Pigs reared in Punjab are fed with required nutrition and also in a most hygienic way unlike the stray pigs being imported from other states like Bihar or UP, which feed mostly on carrion and rubbish from dumps. Pigs from these states are not reared but allowed to roam free. So there is no cost or recurring expenditure involved in rearing the pigs the selling price is naturally inexpensive. This is a boon to wholesalers who can earn good margin. The offer made to Nagaland also include supply of chicken and fish. Though Nagaland is a very big consumer of pork meat yet it has been importing pigs for a very long time. It clearly shows that there is something not going right somewhere. If the demand is high then surely, the local farmers should be doing their best to supply the needs. It is perhaps at the stage of breeding that the entire pig\/pork business has derailed. When there is failure to acknowledge the prime importance of proper and scientific breeding, then it only ensures short term achievement. Most the pig varieties are reportedly lacking in superior germaplasm and so pigs have poor reproductive traits. Pig breeding also requires some technical knowledge on breed, selection of male and female pigs, heat detection, care and management of pregnant sow and newborn piglets etc. Another factor for the problem is that the local farmers generally castrate the male pigs which are much sought after. The piglets are also not used for future breeding but sold off for windfall profits. To promote the business, there is need to establish sufficient pig breeder farms to produce quality disease-free animals. Local farmers and entrepreneurs have to be identified who can establish genuine pig breeding farms and given needed incentive. Also mortality in the piglets and adults has to be greatly reduced with mass vaccination and de-worming. Improved bio-security and hygiene at farm level are essential in controlling zoonotic diseases. What is still lacking today is state-of-the-art abattoirs. These are very crucial since it involves the human health hazard and need to optimize profitability. The Punjabi deal reportedly made between Nagaland government officials with their Punjab counterparts at a meeting recently in Punjab, for supply of pigs also includes training for progressive farmers and veterinary officers in Punjab. The hardy Punjab farmers are not only productive but also cooperative and honest. If the deal is successful then it would prove a boon for the pig market in Nagaland. Consumers will get not only affordable meat but also health certified product.<\/p>\n
Big pig business<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-editorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}