The pig sector in North East India: status, constraints and opportunities

 he eight states in North East India (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram,

Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura) are ethnically and culturally akin to South East Asia and are amongst the poorest in India with a much higher proportion of the population below the poverty line (35%) than the national average (26%). Agriculture is the prime source of livelihood for the majority (85%) of the rural population in this region. It is characterized by subsistence, low input-low output, technologically lagged

mixed farming systems, and is dominated by smallholders. Although cereals dominate the cropping pattern in this region, livestock are an important component of the mixed farming systems and  dependence on livestock as an alternative source of income is significant with livestock accounting for 18% of the value of output from the agriculture sector.