Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora informed that the country’s largest pork processing factory would be constructed at Nazira in the Sivasagar district of Assam with the goal of producing organic meat.
“India’s largest pork processing plant is being built at Nazira in Sivasagar district. The plant will aim to produce organic meat and is likely to transform Northeast into a processing hub,” said Atul Bora.
“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,” said Bora.
Bora made this statement during the opening of a conference on the export potential of natural, organic, and agroproducts with Geographical Indications (GI) certification.
The government’s Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES) is funding the construction of the new facility in Nazira for Rs 11.4 crore.
Less than 400 pigs may currently be processed in the Northeast on a daily basis, however those pigs are dispersed throughout different areas in Assam, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. The majority of those factories continue to employ manual and semi-automatic equipment and do not adhere to other export regulations, such as certain hygiene standards.
“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,” added Bora.
“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 further added.
Despite rearing 2.1 lakh of the nation’s 9.06 million pork, Assam’s contribution to the country’s $1.67 million worth of pork exports is virtually nonexistent.
