Bhoirymbong, Apr 30: The piggery business that the Meghalaya government is pushing farmers to take up is no longer a boon but a bane for them.
Hundreds of farmers who gathered at Lumdaitkhla hall in Bhoirymbong today said that they no longer have the means to repay the loans to bank which they took under the State government’s Piggery Mission.
The gathering was attended by individual farmers and piggery farmers from various self-help groups and cooperative societies from all across Khasi and Jaiñtia Hills region.
The gathering was organised by the Hill Farmers’ Union (HFU) Bhoirymbong Block in collaboration with HFU Ri-Bhoi District and HFU central committee.
Stating that they took loans from bank under the much touted Piggery Mission, most of the farmers said they are running their piggery farms at huge loss and unless the government takes steps to waive off their loans, they see no future in piggery.
According to them, the repeated onslaught of African Swine Flu has dealt a severe blow to them as the disease killed pigs indiscriminately.
The piggery farmers also pointed out that absence of insurance coverage under the Piggery Mission meant that they have no protection or safeguard when death hit their pigs in farms.
They lamented the lack of medicines and other basic helps in veterinary dispensaries in the State for treatment of pigs affected by various ailments.
Another issue raised by the farmers at the gathering is the import of pigs from outside the State without proper testing and quarantine. They said that such imported pigs brought with them diseases that led to the death of locally reared pigs.
“Price is also another headache for us. We bought the piglets at huge cost and when it is time to sell the adult pig, the price drops so low that we end up selling at a loss,” a farmer said.
Others complained that there were no buyers for local pigs resulting in having to keep feeding them at the farms for longer periods.
HFU general secretary Alfondbirth Kharsyntiew while speaking at the gathering said it was high time the government step forward to save the piggery farmers from debt in view of the various hardships faced by them.
Urging the State government to call the farmers for a discussion on their problems and also to find a way forward, Kharsyntiew warned that the farmers would be compelled to march to the State Secretariat to get the attention of those in power as they have no other means to repay their loans to the banks.