Nation

State government to supply pigs to Nagaland as Punjab's pork meat 'most nutritious' in India

Harpreet Bajwa

CHANDIGARH: The cash-strapped Punjab Government has found a unique way to earn money as it would soon start supplying live pigs to Nagaland as 8000 pigs will be supplied per month thus it would be earning Rs 200 crore annually. As pork remains the preferred meat of the people in the norther-eastern state.

Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu after chairing the meeting with the high-level delegation of the Nagaland Government said that the memorandum of understanding in this regard would be signed in the coming days.

Sidhu said that the delegation expressed keen interest in importing pigs from Punjab as the people of Nagaland consider pork meat of Punjab full of nutritious value, hygienic and healthy as compared to the pork of others part of the country. He said that as per the understanding reached out in the meeting 8000 live pigs would be supplied every month to the Nagaland.

He said that to start with 100 pigs would be sent to Nagaland which would be put on exhibition at different places of Nagaland to create interest among the people and to generate more demand. He said that the health certificate of the pigs to be supplied to Nagaland, would be issued by the Punjab Government.

Sidhu said that the deliberations for the supply of Punjab's chicken and fish to the Nagaland were also held during the meeting. A proposal to impart training in Punjab to the progressive farmers and veterinary doctors of Nagaland was also put forward by Balbir Singh Sidhu before the visiting delegation. Later on the delegation was taken for the visit of pig farm at Nabha and Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University at Ludhiana.

The Punjab Government had set up a state-of-the-art 'Nucleus Farm' at Nabha for supplying parent stock for piglet production. About 4,000 piglets are being supplied to farmers for setting up new pig units annually.

The total population of pigs in Punjab is around 60,000 and now, the animal husbandry department is working in the direction of scientific improvement to increase the population of pigs to meet the demand of the national as well as international markets. The production of pork meat in the state has gone up, from 0.96 thousand tonnes (2016-17) to 1.02 thousand tonnes in 2017-18.

Nagaland delegation included Principal Secretary to the Nagaland Government Lhoubeilatuo Kire, Advisor to the Nagaland Government Bongkhao Konyak, Joint Director of the Nagaland Governement, Dr. Anungla Imdong Phom, Advisor marketing Nagaland Government, Rajpal Singh Arora and Consultant, Richard Belho. From Punjab's side Director Dairy Development, Inderjeet Singh, Director Fisheries Madan Mohan and senior officers of the Animal Husbandry Department were present in the meeting.

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