Namrata, an 18-year-old girl from a scheduled caste community is pursuing her higher secondary education. She is incredibly courteous, and her relentlessness in up keeping piggery is quite exceptional.
She started her interest in pig farming by helping her father soon after finishing the 10th standard, where she received a matriculation grade of 87%. She kept nurturing her hobby of farming while pursuing her studies further.
Namrata rears a stock of 2 boars, 4 sows, and 12 growers. During academic breaks, she attended training at ICAR -National Research Centre on Pig, Rani, Guwahati to update her practical knowledge on scientific pig farming and artificial insemination in pigs. She describes herself as an emerging farm entrepreneur, all during a period when most of those in her generation find this area less appealing.
She has minimized input costs by using locally available rice polish and fish market wastes for feeding the pigs. Ingredients are cooked before feeding. Additionally, she has integrated pig farming with Azolla (Azolla pinnata) cultivation. Dried Azolla is incorporated as a nutritional supplement on weekly basis.
Namrata also received farm inputs like a biosecurity kit and farm implements from ICAR-National Research Centre on Pig under the SCSP programme of the institute.
Disinfection and cleaning are routinely performed on her farm. The biosecurity measures prevented the incidence of Africa Swine Fever, which has devastated many nearby farms.
She plans to focus on the breeder facility, where she makes more money.
Last year, she sold 32 piglets, making Rs. 1,44,000 from piglet sales only. Additionally, two finishers were sold for a combined price of Rs 60,000, bringing home more than 2 lakhs in total. Thanks to the financial contribution to her family, she makes independent decisions to continue her studies.
(Source: ICAR -National Research Centre on Pig, Rani, Guwahati)
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