Fatter, more biosecure: Pig mission in Assam’s BTR has European imprint

GUWAHATI

A biosecure nuclear breeding farm and model fattener farms are fuelling the drive of a tribal council in Assam to become the hub of quality pig production for the pork-loving northeast India and beyond.

In 2021, the authorities of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) turned to Europe for a project to elevate the traditional system of pig farming with scientific inputs. The outcome was the Bodoland Pig Mission, a collaboration of the BTR government with the Netherlands-based Programma Uitzending Managers (PUM) and Denmark’s Danish Consortium of Academic Craftsmanship (DCAC).

After initiating the process to upgrade existing infrastructure and training 115 farmers on pig breeding and scientific farm management, the project is taking shape with a British breed of domestic pigs — the Large White Yorkshire — being brought from the Netherlands.

Pushpadhar Das, an Officer on Special Duty associated with the mission, said 260 Large White Yorkshires — 250 sows and 10 boars — are destined for a nucleus pig breeding farm coming up at the Dakhin Maithabari village in Baksa, one of five districts of the 8,970 sq. km BTR. The PUM is providing technical support to this farm, the first of its kind in the northeast.

“We are bringing the British breed because we don’t get a pure breed here. We expect the pigs from the Netherlands in January 2026 after the construction of the Baksa nucleus breeding farm is over in the next three months,” he said.

This nucleus farm is expected to produce high-genetic merit gilts and sows for breeder and multiplier farms established or planned across the BTR. A gilt is a young female pig that has not yet given birth to her first litter of piglets.

Piglets born in the nucleus farm and in those of the specialised breeders will be distributed among the pig farmers.

Demand-supply gap

Pork is the most consumed meat among most of the 26 tribal and non-tribal communities in the BTR. Pigs are reared by many villagers across the BTR landscape, but demand is way above the local supply, forcing the region to procure pigs from other parts of the country at a higher cost and with risks of disease transmission.

Officials said the BTR consumes more than 25,000 metric tonnes of pork annually, local production accounting for less than 40% of the demand. The Bodoland Pig Mission was launched to bridge the demand-supply gap and develop a complete value chain around the pork industry.

The key components of the mission are checking inbreeding by maintaining a database of pigs, which will undergo artificial insemination, and their offspring.

“According to an agreement we signed with the DCAC in 2023, our farmers will be sent to Denmark for training and experts from the European country will visit us. These experts are expected to guide the farmers in designing slaughterhouses, cold chain maintenance, and breeding, among other activities related to the pork industry,” Mr. Das said.

He added that the Bodoland Pig Mission has set a seven-year target to achieve the goal of producing 1 lakh kg of high-quality, hygienic pork daily.

Focus on biosecurity

When African swine fever hit most farmers across the northeast, pig farmers in the BTR did not suffer much. The primary reasons were the supply of biosecurity kits to existing pig farms under the ‘Save the Pigs’ initiative and doorstep veterinary services being provided through the Pashusakhi network, with more than 5,000 farmers trained in scientific pig rearing.

The mission is also promoting model fattener farms, six of which are being developed across the BTR. The focus of such farms is on “maximising growth and meat quality through optimised nutrition and feeding strategies” with the primary goal of reaching a market-ready weight for slaughter.

Some 30,000 farmers are being covered for fattener farms, Mr Das said.

Another key component of the mission is the promotion of bigger community-based farms, each equipped to produce a sizeable number of fattener pigs.