MLBA5: October / November 2008

A long way to go for Indian piggery

By Rakesh BHARDWAJ

With these facts, one would think India would give China a run for its money when it comes to pig produc­tion. The only country in the world with a population bigger than India's, China has a pig population of 500 million. But surprise, surprise … India's swine population is nowhere near that figure.

Based on a livestock census in 2003, India has 209 million cattle, 92.2 million buffaloes, 56.7 million sheep, 120.6 million goats and 15.4 million pigs. In comparison, Thai­land, with a population of only a little over 60 million people, has a pig inventory of close to 14 million at any given time.

Of course, unlike the Thais and the Chinese, Indians are not known pork eaters. A 1997-99 survey by the Food and Agriculture Organiza­tion showed pork to be a small slice - only 6 percent - of India's total meat consumption. Fish had the big­gest share (51 percent), followed by bovine (29 percent), mutton and goat (8 percent), with poultry and pork at 6 percent each.

Indians in fact are not much of a meat eater. Its per capita meat consumption is estimated at only 5.5 kg per year. While it has nearly 17 percent of the world's population, its total meat consumption is only about 2.2 percent of the world's yearly total of 240 million tonnes.

While beef consumption in the US is 42.6 kg per person per year and 5.9 kg in China, it is a mere 1.6 kg in India. Poultry consumption in the US is 45.4 kg per capita per year and it is just 1.9 kg in India. About 42.6 kg pork is eaten by each person per year in the EU, 35 kg in China and 29.7 kg in the US. In India, the amount is very negligible.