App Kota’s disappointment with raising the cross bred white pigs
App Kota lives in a small house in the village of Zongthong, under Bartsham Block in Trashigang District in Eastern Bhutan. He owns a cow (local breed) and two oxen. The oxen are kept for ploughing his 1 acre of wetland on which paddy crop is cultivated every year. His only cow rarely comes in heat and makes no contribution to the household income. Few years back App Kota decided to rear pigs to supplement his family income. He chose to rear pigs since the piglets are available at a much cheaper price when compared to buying a Jersey cross cow Additionally pigs are an easy source of income, ready to be sold in a short period of time.
To his delight he learnt that the central farm of the eastern Dzongkhag in Limithang under Mongar district supplies subsidized piglets to farmers. The central farm was one and a half day drive from App Kota’s native village. He bought three, 10 months old white piglets at Rs 450 each and with the requisite help and support from the Block Livestock Extension officer managed to bring them to his house. The transportation cost was borne by the department to ensure doorstep delivery of the piglets.
The pigs were reared in a small wooden shed constructed few meters away from the house. Maize straw and dry leaves of oak tree were used as bedding. Maize and rice grains were used as main feed in addition to the kitchen residues that were fed twice a day.
In a week’s time App Kota observed his pigs rubbing themselves against the wooden bars. On close observation he noticed that small red-coloured patches had developed on their skin. He immediately reported these symptoms to the nearest animal husbandry centre, which is at an hour’s walking distance from his house. The para-vet gave him an ointment and a liquid to be applied on the skin. Despite regular application of medicine, no improvement was observed in the rashes. The health of the pigs worsened further with tiny red pimples spreading all over the skin. Other symptoms observed were, constant ear shaking due to irritation from thick asbestos like scabs on the ears. The piglets didn’t show any signs of growth the following week.
App Kota consulted the para-vet to confirm whether this disease came from the animal farm or occurred as result of the present surroundings. The para-vet confirmed that since the piglets are free from any parasitic infections during the time of distribution, the disease is an outcome of present living conditions. He shared unlike indigenous breeds, cross breeds require a lot of health care and looking after which is not a practice in the villages.
In few days App Kota’s pigs started dying one by one. This brought an end to his aspirations of generating extra income to raise his family.
App Nakulung who lived in a distant village in the same district also experienced the same problem as did Dema who lived in one of the pocket village of Zhemgang district in the central part of Bhutan. Dema practiced pig husbandry as her main occupation. Having heard of these improved breed of white pigs known for faster growth and producing more pork she decided to switch completely to rearing them. It turned out to be a disastrous decision as very soon they all died and she had an empty pig shed for the first time in her life.
With a number of similar cases being reported from many places throughout the country, Pig rearing farmers gave up their interest in the large white pig, which was susceptible to the skin disease like dermatitis and scabies resulting in alopecia (loss of hair) and death.
The vets later confirmed that poor management at the village level was the root cause of this problem since improved breeds require intensive health care. The harsh weather conditions also contributed to the problem since the soft skin of the pigs was susceptible to ultra violet radiations of the sun. However keeping in mind the preference and ability of the famers, the Department of Livestock changed its swine breeding policy to provide Duroc and Saddleback breed of pigs to the farmers.
Contributed by - Country team Bhutan
