GUWAHATI: Two months after its formation, the North East Progressive Pig Farmers Association (NEPPFA) now plans to kick start its first phase of activity with a series of training-cum knowledge sharing sessions for youths across four states from August.
“Our long-term objective is to create an eco-system for commercial piggery, make the region self-sustainable in quality pork production and generate employment in the region. However our immediate role would be attract interested youths to the piggery sector and educate them on the best practices and methods of producing quality pork,” Tanmoy Nath, an executive member of the association, told The Shillong Times on Thursday.
Currently, NEPPFA has 120 members spread across Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
“We had recently formed the executive body of the association with members from all the four states who will take a lead role in their respective states and organise training sessions for 30 to 40 youths to start with. The sessions will be conducted every month with the idea of creating a pool of potential pig farmers equipped with the best practices in pork production,” Nath said.
Pork consumption in the Northeast is by far the highest among the regions of the country. Sources say that the annual demand for pork in the Northeast is about 3 lakh metric tonnes as against local production of about 1.3 lakh metric tonnes, leading to import of pork.
The 2012 census puts the pig population in the Northeast at 6.5 million, whereas the figure for the entire country stood at 10.6 million.
“Our long-term plan is therefore to bring as many farmers from across the region under the association and work towards reducing this demand-supply gap locally,” he said.
The association simultaneously plans to engage with government departments and policy makers to sustain piggery as a profitable means of livelihood, provide feeds at subsidized rates, facilitate access to good breeds and make veterinary care and vaccines for pigs available.
“We have to make sure that piggery does not go the poultry way. A number of poultry farmers have had to give up the trade owing to losses in the wake of big companies entering the market and monopolising the business. So the association has to engage with policy makers and government departments to ensure that the piggery sector remains profitable for farmers of the region,” Nath said.
Asked about the association’s vision, he said it was formed with the idea of establishing pork produced in the Northeast as a global brand.
“The brand will take some years to materialise as we have streamline the set-up first, taking into account all aspects to make our product acceptable to global standards,” he said.