Agartala/Aizawl:Piglets imported from the UK by the National Livestock Mission (NLM) for the northeastern states have been kept in quarantine in Delhi as highly infectious African Swine Fever (ASF) caused the deaths of hundreds of pigs in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
According to officials in Agartala and Aizawl, the NLM had imported 262 high-quality piglets from the United Kingdom, but these piglets had to be kept in quarantine in Delhi as the ASF caused deaths of hundreds of pigs in six districts of Assam and nine districts in Arunachal Pradesh.
Tripura's Animal Resources Development Department (ARDD) Director Dilip Chakma said these 262 high-quality piglets were supposed to be distributed in five northeastern states -- Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland.
"Assam and Arunachal Pradesh had no pig breeding policy when the initiative to import the piglets from the UK was undertaken by the NLM. Later, both the states framed the pig breeding policy," Chakma told IANS.
He said that due to the outbreak of ASF in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, the NLM kept the piglets in quarantine at the Animal Quarantine and Certification Service Centre at Kapashera in southwest Delhi since the piglets were imported from the UK in February.
Chakma, who is also the Additional Secretary of the ARDD, said the NLM (similar to National Health Mission), would bear the entire expenditure to import the piglets from the UK and to distribute them to the northeastern states. He said that the Mizoram Government's Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science Department (AHVSD) is the nodal agency of this scheme.
An official of the AHVSD said the pure breed large white Yorkshire and pure breed Landrace pigs of UK are of very high quality compared to the local breed in many respects. Pork is one of the most common and popular meats consumed by both tribals and non-tribals in the northeastern states.