1. WHY DO PIG FARMING? The challenges faced by our country in securing the food as well as nutritional security to fast growing population need an integrated approach for livestock farming. Among the various livestock species, piggery is most potential source of meat production and more efficient feed converters after the broiler. Apart from providing meat, it is also a source of bristles and manure. Pig farming will provide employment opportunities to seasonally employed rural farmers and supplementary income to improve their living standards. The advantages of the pig farming are : 1. The pig has got highest feed conversion efficiency i.e. they produce more live weight gain from a given weight of feed than any other class of meat producing animals except broilers. 2. The pig can utilise wide variety of feed stuffs viz. grains, forages, damaged feeds and garbage and convert them into valuable nutritious meat. However, feeding of damaged grains, garbage and other unbalanced rations may result in lower feed efficiency. 3. They are prolific with shorter generation interval. A sow can be bred as early as 8- 9 months of age and can farrow twice in a year. They produce 6-12 piglets in each farrowing. 4. Pig farming requires small investment on buildings and equipments 5. Pigs are known for their meat yield, which in terms of dressing percentage ranges from 65 - 80 in comparison to other livestock species whose dressing yields may not exceed 65%. 6. Pork is most nutritious with high fat and low water content and has got better energy value than that of other meats. It is rich in vitamins like thiamin, Niacin and riboflavin. 7. Pigs manure is widely used as fertilizer for agriculture farms and fish ponds. 8. Pigs store fat rapidly for which there is an increasing demand from poultry feed, soap, paints and other chemical industries. 9. Pig farming provides quick returns since the marketable weight of fatteners can be achieved with in a period of 6-8 months. 10. There is good demand from domestic as well as export market for pig products such as pork, bacon, ham, sausages, lard etc. 2. SCOPE FOR PIG FARMING AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO NATIONAL ECONOMY 2.1 The pig population of the country is 12.79 million as per the 1992 livestock census and 13.291 million as per 1997 provisional result of census from states and constitutes around 1.30% of the total world's population. The state wise pig population are given in Annexure I . The pork production stands at 4.20 lakh tonnes (1995). During 2001-02 the production of pork and pork products were estimated to be 612550 mt with 3.03% growth rate in last decade. If comprised over 38% of the total world meat product Indian share in piggary meat production moderately increased from 0.53%in 1981 to 0.63 in 2002. The contribution of pork products in terms of value works out to 0.80% of total livestock products and 4.32% of the meat and meat products. The contribution of pigs to Indian exports is very poor. About 934 tonnes of pork and pork products were exported during 1995-96. The value of pork and pork products exported is Rs. 262 lakhs against the total value of Rs. 61604 lakhs on account of meat and meat products export. 2.2 The pig farming constitutes the livelihood of rural poor belonging to the lowest socio- economic strata and they have no means to undertake scientific pig farming with improved foundation stock, proper housing, feeding and management. Therefore, suitable schemes to popularise the scientific pig breeding cum rearing of meat producing animals with adequate financial provisions are necessary to modernise the Indian pig industry and to improve the productivity of small sized rural pig farms. 2.3 In view of the importance of pig farming in terms of it's contribution to rural poor and possible potentials for pig rearing in our country, Government of India has initiated measures to promote the pig farming on scientific lines under it's five year plans. The first step towards this direction is establishment of eight bacon factories and organisation of pig production in rural areas attached to bacon factories. In order to make available good foundation stock, regional pig breeding stations were established for each bacon factory. Further expansion of pig breeding programmes paved the way for establishment of 115 pig breeding farms (1992-93) through out the country. The location of bacon factories and pig breeding farms are given in Annexures II and III respectively. 3 FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE FROM BANKS / NABARD FOR PIG FARMING 3.1 NABARD is an apex institution for all matters relating to policy, planning, and operations in the field of agriculture credit. It serves as refinance agency for the ground level institutions / banks providing investment and production credit for various activities under agriculture and allied sectors for ensuring integrated rural development. It co- ordinates the development activities through a well organised Technical Services Department at the head office and Technical cells at each of the regional offices. 3.2 For undertaking the pig farming on scientific lines, loan from banks with refinance facility from NABARD is available. For obtaining bank loan the farmers / entrepreneurs should apply to the nearest branch of a Commercial, Co-operative or Regional Rural Bank in the prescribed application form, which is available in the branches of financing bank. Necessary help or guidance can be obtained from the technical officer attached to or the manager of the bank in preparing the project report, which is a prerequisite for sanction of the loan. 3.3 For piggery development schemes with very large outlays, detailed project reports will have to be prepared. The items such as land development, construction of sheds and other civil structures, purchase of the breeding stock, equipment, feed cost upto the point of income generation are normally considered under bank loan. Other items of investment will be considered on need basis after providing the satisfactory information justifying the need for such items. The cost of land is not considered for loan. However, if land is purchased for setting up the piggery farm exclusively, it can be considered as beneficiaries margin money. 4. SCHEME FORMULATION In case of commercial piggery units, the banks are expected to submit a project for availing the refinance. The scheme normally should include information on land, livestock markets, availability of water, feeds, veterinary aid, breeding facilities, marketing aspects, training facilities, experience of the farmer and the type of assistance available from State Government Regional Pig breeding centres. The scheme should also include information on the number of and types of animals to be purchased, their breeds, production performance, cost and other relevant input and output costs with their description. Based on this, the total cost of the project, margin money to be provided by the beneficiary, requirement of bank loan, estimated annual expenditure, income, profit and loss statement, repayment period, etc. can be worked out and included in the project cost. 5. REQUIREMENTS OF A GOOD PROJECT A format prepared by NABARD for formulation of piggery development schemes is given in Annexure IV. The scheme so formulated should be submitted to the nearest branch of bank. The bank's officers can assist in preparation of the scheme or filling in the prescribed application form. The bank will then examine the scheme for its technical feasibility and economic viability. A) Technical Feasibility - This would briefly include : 1. Nearness of the selected area to financing bank's branch. 2. Availability of good quality animals in nearby livestock markets/ breeding farms. 3. Source and availability of training facilities. 4. Availability of concentrate feeds and kitchen/ hotel/ vegetable market waste and broken grains from Food corporation godowns. 5. Availability of medicines, vaccines and veterinary services etc. 6. Availability of veterinary aid / breeding centres and marketing facilities near the scheme area. 7. Reasonability of various production and reproduction parameters. B) Economic Viability - This would briefly include : 1. Unit cost - The average cost of piggery breeding stock for some of the States is given in Annexure V. 2. Input cost for feeds, veterinary aid, insurance, labour charges, etc. 3. Output costs i.e. sale price of fatteners, piglets and culled animals 4. Income-expenditure statement and annual gross surplus. 5. Cash flow analysis. C. Bankability : Repayment schedule (i.e. repayment of principal loan amount and interest.) Other documents such as loan application forms, security aspects, margin money requirements etc. are also examined. A field visit to the scheme area is undertaken for conducting a techno- economic feasibility study for appraisal of the scheme. The economics of piggery unit is given in Annexure VIa- VIf. 6. SANCTION OF BANK LOAN AND ITS DISBURSEMENT After ensuring technical feasibility and economic viability, the scheme is sanctioned by the bank. The loan is disbursed in stages against creation of specific assets such as construction of sheds, purchase of equipments and animals. The end use of the fund is verified and constant follow-up is done by the bank. 7. LENDING TERMS - GENERAL 7.1 Unit cost Each Regional Office (R.O) of NABARD has constituted a State Level Unit Cost Committee under the chairmanship of RO- in-charge and with the members from developmental agencies, commercial banks and cooperative banks to review the unit cost of various investments once in six months. The same is circulated among the banks for their guidance. 7.2 Margin Money NABARD has defined farmers into three different categories and where subsidy is not available, the minimum down payment as shown below is collected from the beneficiaries.