Northeast may spring up as the pork export hub of India as the pork processing units coming up at Nazira, Assam, and Majitar Sikkim. Nazira is set to be the largest facility of its kind in the country.
In the year 2019-20 when Covid pandemic hits hard, India exported pork worth $1.67 million with Bhutan and Nepal as two key export destinations according to commerce department’s data. According to 2019 livestock census, Northeast India’s contribution to this figure was however almost nil even as the region houses the state with the country’s biggest pig population Assam which rears 2.1 million pigs out of India’s 9.06 million. Other states with sizable pig populations in India includes Jharkhand, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Nagaland.
“There is a high demand for pork from India’s neighbours such as Myanmar and Bhutan and Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore and Hong Kong”, Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority ( APEDA) chairman M Angamuthu said.
Inputs: Northeast Today
