Animal Resource Dev dept takes step to boost livelihood of tribals

malda: Animal Resource Development (ARD) Malda has been distributing piglets among tribal people to help them boost their livelihood. The initiative has been taken up under the scheme ‘Improvement of Livelihood through Pig Farming in cluster mode.’

About 120 animals are being distributed among 60 beneficiaries in five blocks of the districts under the scheme. These animals are being distributed among 6 clusters of 10 people each. Utpal Karmakar, Deputy Director of District Animal Resource Development department, said: “The five blocks are Gazole, Habibpur, Bamangola, Chanchal-2 and Harishchandrapur-2. There are 108 females and 12 males among the animals. All these are insured for a year and given away with medicines and vaccines. The last installment of the distribution will be done on March 15.”

All these animals are on an average 10 to 12 kilograms of weight and will grow upto 20 to 22 kilograms. In every cluster of 10 people, 8 will get 2 females each and the other 2 will have 1 female and 1 male each.

All these 9 females in a cluster will breed piglets from the lone male pig and the number of the animals will increase.

The pigs bear piglets after 3 months 3 weeks and 3 days, faster than other domestic animals.

So the increase in the number of the animals will be rapid. The objective is to sell the meat to earn money in a short period of time.

There is a huge demand for pork among tribal people.