SHILLONG: The Centre will provide a loan of Rs 220 crore to the state government through the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) for encouraging farmers to take up piggery and livestock farming.
This was stated by the Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong while inaugurating the long awaited multi-species modern abattoir at Mawlai Mawiong on Saturday.
Tynsong said the state government would use the money to provide soft loans to farmers keen to take up piggery and livestock farming since the market for both is huge in the state with eighty per cent of the population consuming meat.
“The farmers are still lagging behind in transforming piggery and livestock farming into lucrative business opportunities. The state government wants the farmers to take advantage of the vacuum in terms of meat production,” Tynsong said.
He said that the total requirement for pork meat in the state annually is 41,000 metric tonnes while production is only around 31,000 metric tonnes.
The deputy chief minister said that the farmers can take advantage of the shortage in production by taking up piggery farming as a full time business.
Talking about the multi-species modern abattoir project, Tynsong said that with the abattoir becoming operational, the people of the city will now get wholesome and hygienic meat which would be checked by veterinarians to ensure the safety of the slaughtered animal for human consumption.
To ameliorate environmental pollution from the abattoir, the deputy chief minister informed that effluent treatment facility (ETF) was included in the project for scientifically managing the solid and liquid waste.
Earlier, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department senior officer and in-charge of the abattoir, W Challam, in her introductory speech informed that the facility was started by the department in 2010 on being sanctioned by the National Agricultural Bank for Rural Development (NABARD) under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund, with a budget of Rs 2167.20 lakh. It has a capacity of slaughtering 240 cattle, 240 pigs and 160 goats per day.
