GUWAHATI, Dec 5 - Assam and the other North Eastern States are major pig-rearing areas of India. With the right kind of genetics and infrastructure, the region can turn out to be a major livestock production hub.
This was the opinion of Jean Pierre Garnier, Managing Director of UK-based MeatWise International, who was in the city as part of a British livestock delegation.
MeatWise International provides consultancy for the meat and livestock sector and has wide international experience in the development of meat supply chains from genetics to meat processing and retailing.
Garnier said that efficiency of the piggery sector in the State and also rest of the country needs to be improved. According to him, to meet the demand for pork in the North East, the region needs 45,000 tonnes of pork or 9,000 pigs every week.
�Assam needs to work on the entire chain, starting from genetics, productivity, transport and quality of pork. It is important that the quality of processing needs to be improved, and so the State needs to invest more on processing,� he said.
Assam is among the major pig-rearing States of India, and the North Eastern region as a whole contributes 28 per cent of the total pig population of India. Garnier added that consumers no longer are satisfied with �second rate� products, but aspire for best quality pork.
�But for the piggery sector to develop in Assam and the North East and reach its full potential by attracting capital and expertise from abroad, stress has to be placed on optimisation of resources and return of capital. Focus should also be to ensure that the meat in safe, that it does not pollute the environment, and also on ensuring that production constraints are removed and the end product matches the requirement of the consumers,� he said.
Garnier said that good pedigree can be sourced from the British market and said that optimising genetics is very important for increasing meat production and added that MeatWise International is ready to share the expertise with local livestock farmers of the State.
He said that along with efficiency in processing, local pig breeders in this region must also focus on optimum utilisation of manpower and investments. �In China, e-commerce has helped a lot in the import of pigs. The North East region of India can also do the same for procuring quality products,� Garnier said.