Despite the completion of a cold storage facility in March this year, none of the 130 piggery farms in Tsirang have utilized it to store pork. Farmers attribute this to the low pork production in the area, which has resulted in no surplus.
Today, no pork is seen at the Nu 6.5 M facility. Instead, a poultry farmer is using it to store chicken.
The facility located at Pelrithang in Gosarling Gewog has a blast freezer and cold storage, with a capacity to store 12 metric tonnes of pork. A youth group has been managing it for a month now.
“We can maintain to meet quality when we store it in the cold storage. The government has constructed the facility for us so I am availing myself of the service. I will be using it in the future as well,” said Gyeltshen Tamang, a poultry farmer.
A few piggery farmers BBS talked to said, they couldn’t utilise the facility due to low pork production at the moment in the district. The district produced almost 500 metric tonnes of pork last year.
“As requested, the district administration constructed the cold storage for us. But at the moment we don’t have excess pork production. We are not able to manage huge piggery farms like in pre-COVID-19 times. However, we are expecting more pork production next year,” said Janga Bdr. Subba, piggery farmer in Goserling Gewog.
“It has been just only one month since we have started. People don’t know much about it. Maybe in the future they will come and utilize this facility fully,” said Tshering Wangda, a member of the Youth Group.
Piggery and poultry farmers have to pay nominal fees to the youth group.
The District Administration constructed the facility after livestock farmers proposed for the facility to store excess pork. There are hopes that production will pick up by next year, bringing it into operations.
Pema Tshewang, Tsirang
Edited by Sangay Chezom
