India is ready import pigs to develop strong pork industry
The Indian state of Maharashtra is changing its policy on developing a strong local pork industry by backing Mumbai-based Gargi Genetics Pvt. Ltd. to import pigs from Canada and to partner with farmers by supplying them with imported animals.
The company plans to build a fully-equipped international-standard piggery that would support animal husbandry, food and medical industry. While it would create a comprehensive value chain for pork production, it would also supply high-quality animals for medical and research industry (organ transplant and insulin), top officials said, according to The Hindu newspaper.
In five years, over 1,000 Maharashtra farmers, in a cooperative format, are expected to learn about commercial animal farming with international best practices. Until now, Many consumers stay away from consuming pork as local pigs are mostly bred under unhygienic conditions and that is one reason for Maharashtra government to support international imported pig breeding.
The other is that Indian pig breeds are not suitable for high-quality pork production. "Commercial pig farming in India for meat production is one of the best and profitable business ideas. But the main issue is Indian pig breeds are not suitable for high-quality pork production. So, we decided to select high-quality meat producing pig breeds available around the globe," explains Dr Nitin Malekar, director of Gargi Genetics. So far, researchers had achieved a litter size of 10 to 14, which is considered to be the best result under Indian conditions.
The project, scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2019, will run for 5 or 6 years and intends to offer ‘farm to market’ solution. The programme is also supported by pig breeding specialist from Canada Alfred Wahl of Polar Genetics and Canadian Pig Association, which would help with pig breeding, raising, marketing and business development.
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