Scenario of pig production on Nepal.

Ans.
Introduction

  Nepal is an agricultural country where more than 60% of people depend upon agriculture. Total
contribution of agricultural sector in GDP of Nepal is 26.98 %. Among them contribution of livestock
sector in total is 11% and pig is second contributor in meat production. There are slightly above 1.39
million pigs in Nepal (2016/2017), out of which nearly 42 per cent are improve breed. Pork industry has a
huge market potential, which if tapped into can reap good benefits for investors. A report published by
SAMARTH and Centre for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development
(CEAPRED) in 2016 noted that demand of pork meat has been rising annually by 10% in Nepal. According
to a newspaper source, in Pokhara alone, the number is as high as 30%. 

Statistics

Population of pig in Nepal is at increasing trend. It was 765,718 in 1997/98 which increased to 1,137,489
in 2011/12 (MoAD, 2011/12) .This increase of population of pig is significant with an increase of about 67
percent over the period of 14 years. The following figure shows the trend of pig in Nepal in different
regional distribution.

Region Pig Population Pig Population Pork Pork Production

% production %
Mt
Eastern Region 495,230 43.53 7948 43.48

Central Region 157,371 13.83 4180 22.87

Western Region 108,449 9.53 2655 14.52

Mid-Western Region 126,172 11.09 2827 15.46

Far-Western Region 52893 4.64 667 3.64

Total 1137489 100 18277 100

Regional distribution of pig (2011/12)

The pork production was dominated by the eastern development region occupying 43% of total
production followed by CDR, WDR, MWDR, FWDR. Similarly, within ecological belt pig production
reported on hilly region was 57% in terai 36% and on mountain region 7%.

Pork Meat Scenario in Nepal

Previously Pork production in Nepal is limited, representing only 7% of the country’s animal protein
sources. Production was concentrated mainly in the northeastern corner of the country and consists
primarily of backyard and informal sector producers. Although there are some local companies
manufacturing processed products such as sausages and bacon. Estimated processed pork production in
urban cities of Nepal is about 5.0 M. ton per day by 25 registered meat processors. According to
Community Livestock Development Project (CLDP), there are no organized pig slaughter houses in Nepal.
Traditional slaughtering methods for pigs are considered inhumane. There are no ante-mortem or post-
mortem meat inspection systems to reduce the likelihood of diseased animals being slaughtered
checking meat for contamination .The situation is getting better there are more establishment of meat
processing industries in which pork meat has gained its priority as well commercial pig farms are also
been opened in large numbers.

Current Situation/scenario of Pig production in Nepal

Nepal has estimated 1.16 million heads of pigs, of which 53% are concentrated in the hill region, 36% in
the Terai and 11% in the mountain region (MoAD 2012/13). Most of the pigs are found in the Eastern
Development Region (49.4%) and least in the Far Western Development Region (4.6%). Some of the
Eastern Terai and hill districts have the highest concentration of pig population. Nepal has estimated 1.16
million heads of pigs, of which 53% are concentrated in the hill region, 36% in the Terai and 11% in the
mountain region (MoAD 2012/13). Most of the pigs are found in the Eastern Development Region
(49.4%) and least in the Far Western Development Region (4.6%). Some of the Eastern Terai and hill
districts have the highest concentration of pig population Nepal has estimated 1.16 million heads of pigs,
of which 53% are concentrated in the hill region, 36% in the Terai and 11% in the mountain region
(MoAD 2012/13). Most of the pigs are found in the Eastern Development Region (49.4%) and least in the
Far Western Development Region (4.6%). Some of the Eastern Terai and hill districts have the highest
concentration of pig population. Nepal has estimated 1.16 million heads of pigs, of which 53% are
concentrated in the hill region, 36% in the Terai and 11% in the mountain region (MoAD 2012/13). Most
of the pigs are found in the Eastern Development Region (49.4%) and least in the Far Western
Development Region (4.6%). Some of the Eastern Terai and hill districts have the highest concentration
of pig population. Nepal has estimated 1.16 million heads of pigs, of which 53% are concentrated in the
hill region, 36% in the Terai and 11% in the mountain region (MoAD 2012/13). Most of the pigs are
found in the Eastern Development Region (49.4%) and least in the Far Western Development Region
(4.6%). Some of the Eastern Terai and hill districts have the highest concentration of pig population.
Previously Pig farming used to be limited among some castes in Nepalese society in the past, but now
pig production and farming has been a favorite enterprise among young, educated and enterprising
group of people of different castes. Contemporary pork industry is largely characterized by scavenging or
traditional model. Most pig farms are small in scale and many operate out of backyard of homes and
restaurants. Majority of the pigs reared are indigenous and they are fed kitchen scraps and wastes.
Feeding wastes to pigs is a cost-cutting measure for farmers since 75-80% of the total costs of pig rearing
constitute of feeding cost. Feeding cost is also a major determining factor of profit and sustainability of
pig farming. However, this scenario is slowly changing. New businesses that have adopted systematic or
more modern model of pig rearing are gradually springing up.
There are different types of breed of pigs, among the indigenous breeds, the black colored Chwanche in hills;
the rusty brown colored in Terai; and the rusty brown to black colored Bampudke or Sanu Bandel are common
and constitute around 58% of the total population. These days almost pig commercial farmers are growing
exotic commercial breeds like Landrace, Yorkshire, Hampshire, Duroc and Pakhribas and their crosses. Pure
breeding or cross breeding system is being followed only in case of exotic breeds such as, Hampshire,
Landrace, Yorkshire, and Duroc in Government farms. Crossbreeding and crisscrossing among these breeds is
being practiced for commercial pork production Since few years back, piglets and pigs for meat purpose has
been exporting from Nepal to parts of West Bengal, Sikkim and Bhutan. So, the pig breeding and commercial
farming has been an attractive enterprise among many livestock farmers all over Nepal. Under commercial pig
production system, following sub systems are most prevalent in the country.

 Breeding farms- Farmers are only producing piglets and selling to the fatteners
 Fattening farms- The farmers purchase piglets from the breeder farms and fattened the piglets for
slaughter/ market. The fattening period varies from 6-9 months depending on feeding management.
 Both breeding and fattening farms- The farms produce piglets both for selling to the fatteners and
for fattening and marketing by themselves.

Under this system, farmers are found to be keeping from few breeding sows to as large as 200
breeding sows with more than 1000 fatteners with the concept of factory farm production. Beside
these systems, pig production has also been found to be integrated with fish farming in the country.

Current scenario of Import / Export potential in pig production

Along with domestic demand, pork products have tremendous export potential as well. Nepal’s
immediate northern neighbor, China is the largest consumer of pork meat in the world and consumes
around a quarter of global pork production. Consumption of pork meat may still be frowned upon in
India, Nepal’s southern neighbor, but there are possibilities of export to Bhutan, Vietnam and Thailand.
Nepali entrepreneurs have access to international markets that presently lie unexplored but have huge
profit scopes. These few past years data of import and export showed that in 2011/12 to 2019/2020
there was only export of pig, however in other years data indicated more export than import of pig in
2011/12. Similar is the scenario of import export showed we have more export than import.

Conclusion

We can conclude Scenario of pig production on Nepal was not too satisfying in previous few years but to
this date pig production has been gaining its importance and it can contribution major percentage in
GDP of Nepal from livestock sector if we can give it importance ,As pig production is fully sufficient in
Nepal and we do not have to import pork meat from other countries rather we have great potential to
export.