The pork-prosessing unit at Rowriah in Jorhat. Telegraph picture

Jorhat, Sept. 14: Rowriah in the district is all set to get a Rs 33-lakh commercial pork-processing unit.

Funded by the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana, under a district rural development agency (DRDA) project, the unit, set up next to Rowriah haat, aims to promote self-help groups.

DRDA (Jorhat) project director Sanjib Pujari told The Telegraph that the project, first of its kind in the Northeast, is likely to start functioning within a month and installation of the machinery has been completed recently.

He said the unit would produce packaged pork after being checked by veterinary doctors and the whole process would be done in a hygienic manner. Pujari said the project was conceived after a survey done by the agency showed that there was huge demand for pork in the state and also in neighbouring Nagaland.

The project director said the survey also found that there were many communities in the district who rear pigs traditionally and so the animal was in abundance.

He said once the unit starts functioning, the schemes for rearing high-breed species of pig in better conditions could be taken up.

Assistant project officer (SGSY-DRDA) Indra Bordoloi said self-help groups would be entrusted with the task of collecting the animals from the villages and distribute and sell the packaged pork in over 100 retail outlets in the district.

A refrigerated van will be purchased by the DRDA and given to self-help groups to supply the pork, he said. Any hotel/restaurant/eatery willing to buy the product will have to buy it from the self-help groups. The unit would be managed by forming a federation of self-help groups, which would have to deposit a minimum amount to the agency per month for maintenance and repairing, he added.

Assistant project officer (technical, DRDA) Dilip Sarmah said pork would be stored in a liquid nitrogen refrigeration chamber at minus 4 degrees Celsius. In a day, about 24 pigs could be slaughtered and stored in the deep-freezer before being cut into pieces of different sizes and packed into hermetically-sealed packets of various weights. Sarmah said over 1,500kg of pork could be produced in a day. Around 10 people would be needed to run the unit. The company from which the machinery has been bought would train these people, he added.

He said the slaughtering of the animal would be done in a modern method under which the pig would be given an electric shock. Sarmah said the fur of the pig would be sold as it is in demand and can be used for making different kinds of brushes. Two veterinary doctors would be posted at the unit.