GUWAHATI:
Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, on June 24, said that India’s largest pork processing plant, which is coming up at Nazira in Sivasagar district and which aims to produce organic meat, is likely to transform Northeast into a processing hub.
“There is a high demand for pork from Myanmar and Bhutan and Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore and Hong Kong. As we are focusing on Act East Policy, there is potentialities of exporting pig from Northeast,” Bora said while inaugurating a conference focusing on the export potential of natural, organic and Geographical Indications (GI) certified agro-products.
The new plant in Nazira is being built for Rs 11.4 crore under the government’s Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES). At present, the Northeast has a functional processing capacity of fewer than 400 pigs a day and those are scattered around several pockets in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Most of those facilities are still using manual and semi-automatic machinery, and also don’t conform to other export requirements including certain hygienic parameters.
“In this plant, we can process 400 pigs per day. But we have to close the plant soon after its opening as the pig production in the state is still low. All the northeastern states, including Nagaland and Meghalaya, have to depend on outside pigs,” Bora said.
“But we have to increase our production for it. Because we have to stop bringing pig from outside the state due to fear of African Swine Fever (ASF). As the entire state is reeling under floods, we have to think about this aspect before opening the pig processing plant,” he added.
India has exported pork worth $1.67 million, but Assam’s contribution to this figure is almost nil despite rearing 2.1 lakh of the country’s 9.06 million.
The minister also claimed that there is a silent green revolution going on in the state.
“Assam along with other northeastern states has huge untapped natural resources and suitable agro-climatic conditions to produce a diverse range of crops including ginger, turmeric, black pepper etc. Sikkim has a maximum area of organic cultivation followed by Meghalaya and Assam,” the minister claimed.
“On the export front, only two northeastern states, Assam and Meghalaya, are actively associating with the export-oriented organic commodities,” he informed.
Bora said in the field of agriculture and allied sector, the Assam government has been focusing on Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) which is a type of chemical-free farming where the total cost of growing and harvesting plants comes out to be zero.
For the export of agricultural produce, the state government is planning to form 125 Farmers Production Organisations (FPO) and already 40 are functional.