The slender coconut palm swaying in the breeze, along sandy beaches and green rice fields, is an integral part of the image of Goa as a paradise on earth. So is the image of people enjoying cashew feni and cashew nuts, both of which now have ‘Geographical Indication’ or GI tag for Goa. However, to those who eat meat, a visit to Goa is incomplete without choris-pao, roast pig and sorpotel with san’na. To use my friend Cecil Pinto’s words, ‘Mr Pig’ is ‘world famous all over Goa’ as the choice meat for a feast or celebration. We have not yet decided what we really want to call it: choris, chouriço, chouriso, chorizo, pork sausage, Goa sausage or Goan pork sausage but we all love choris-pao! It is a hot favourite at the fair in Old Goa to coincide with the decennial exposition in November-December.
Located at Old Goa is the ICAR’s Central Coastal Agriculture Research Institute or ICAR-CCARI and its piggery division is now making the headlines. A decade ago Dr Eaknath Chakurkar, principal scientist – Animal Sciences (Piggery), began work in identifying a superior local boar to give the exotic Large White Yorkshire sow (female pig) the resistance it needed against diseases it suffered in the hot, humid coastal environment in India. Local boars have adapted over the years to the climatic conditions here but they do not gain weight like the LW Yorkshire pigs. Pork is sold by weight, by the kilogram now that we are not satisfied with a pound of flesh. The work may have been boring but he found the Agonda boar (male pig) and registered it as a new breed of pigs.
Dr Chakurkar developed the artificial insemination (AI) technology for pigs based on a similar AI method used for cattle the world over. He; Dr Amiya Ranjan Sahu, scientist – Animal Genetics and Breeding; and Dr Gokuldas P P, senior scientist – Animal Reproduction and Gynaecology, then used this AI technology to inseminate the LW Yorkshire sow with semen of the Agonda boar to get a hybrid progeny now christened as GOYA, for Goa Yorkshire X Agonda pig. The ‘Goya’ piglet is born just under a kilogram or about 800 grams in weight and grows to about five and half kilograms by the time it is weaned from suckling in forty days. With good feed and management, the Goya pig will weigh about eighty to ninety kilograms in ten months to a year.
Waste food from canteens and restaurants is a good source of piggery feed. It resolves the issue of disposing biodegradable waste and produces both, meat for human consumption and manure for plants. Whether it is Krishna Anant Sinari Gaonkar of Amona, Pobrinha Carvalho of Divar or Elijah de Souza of Anjuna, this is a successful and profitable model. Piggery, with pure breeds and crossbred pigs, is a major component of Krishi Vibhushan awardee farmer Anita Mathew Valikkappen at village Sal of Bicholim taluka. It is smell-free.
Like Anita and Pobrinha, Hubert C Moniz of Verna has been supported by ICAR-CCARI to operate his piggery. Hubert profitably converts the waste food from GIDC’s Verna Industrial Estate into money. He uses Yorkshire and cross-bred pigs for sale as 80 kg ‘finishers’ for pork and, with the confidence gained, he hopes to breed piglets for sale to other piggeries. This is the model that will work best for Goa. ICAR-CCARI being a research establishment cannot go into commercial production. This is an opportunity for private entrepreneurs to grab with both hands.
The ICAR-CCARI has a facility for AI in pigs and this is becoming popular among pig farmers in Goa. This technology helps to save expenses on rearing boar for fertilising the sows for breeding. The semen bank for crossbred Goya boars and exotic boars like LW Yorkshire is available in the institute for AI. Dr Chakurkar will be remembered for registering the ‘Agonda Boar’ as an elite breed, developing the AI technique for pigs; for cross-breeding the Agonda boar with exotic breeds and the successful development of Goya. He is now the director of Central Island Agriculture Institute (ICAR-CIAI) in Port Blair, now renamed as Shree Vijayapuram, South Andaman Island. Brand Goya is a reminder that he was here!
(The writer, former Agricultural Officer and a mentor to the GenNext organic farmers, is committed to nurturing young talent for a food-secure future)
