In times of ‘beef ban’, demand for pork may boost biz in GH

NEW DELHI: As the controversy over ban on cow slaughter is heightening, one food item is slowly making its way to the tables.
The demand for pork is rising among meat eaters and modern pig farms in states like Punjab and Haryana are catering to it.
These farms are raising western breeds like Yorkshire and Landrace pigs, sometimes cross-bred with Indian types.
Incidentally, the best pork is supposed to be available in Garo Hills that supplies pork to even neighbouring Bhutan. But rural households in the region rear pigs in their backyards in the traditional way.
Altogether 1,500 tonnes of pork is imported to India annually, largely from Belgium, with the landed cost of Rs 500 a kg.
“The stigma of eating pork has gone,” said HK Verma, director, extension services at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University at Ludhiana.
The high import can be substituted by farms in Garo Hills as well as in other parts of the country.
Also, rising demand for processed pork products like sausages and bacon has helped villagers in Garo Hills supplement other agricultural activities. This can be a way to boost agricultural incomes along with making available another much-needed source of protein for consumers.
It was the British who made bacon popular in India. The English would recruit Christian cooks from Goa or eastern India and the ‘Mug’ cooks from tribes who had no problem with pork.