The Minister of Agro-Industry, Food Security, Blue Economy and Fisheries, Dr Arvin Boolell, chaired this morning an Inter-Ministerial meeting, comprising the Minister of Local Government, Mr Ranjiv Woochit; the Junior Minister of Finance, Mr Dhaneshwar Damry; and the Junior Minister of Agro-Industry, Food Security, Blue Economy and Fisheries, Mr Gilles Fabrice David; to discuss pig breeding at the City Council of Port Louis.
The objective of the meeting was to have an interactive session with pig breeders and entrepreneurs involved in food processing, as well as relevant Officers and stakeholders of the pig breeding industry. It also aimed to take stock of the current issues faced by pig breeders and propose solutions for them to carry out their activities in the best possible conditions so as to produce quality products.
Minister Boolell recalled that the main objective of the Ministry is to ensure that pig breeding is carried out in an orderly manner and in accordance with the provisions of law, while observing all sanitary measures. He dwelt on the importance of providing adequate feed to the animals and enhancing biosecurity at the pig farms, with the aim to offer quality products to the public.
Dr Boolell emphasised the importance of having adequate bio-digestors on every breeding site so as to efficiently treat effluents. Breeders, he stated, will then be able to carry out their activities in optimum conditions and add value to their products. He also called for breeders to be more responsible and reassured that adequate measures will be proposed in the next budgetary exercise to effectively support them. Furthermore, he pointed out that no new pig breeding licence will presently be issued.
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Minister Woochit, for his part, asserted that his Ministry will provide, as far as possible, necessary support to pig breeders in terms of waste collection.
As for Junior Minister David, he recalled that this meeting aimed to take stock of difficulties pig breeders currently face and discuss about legal frameworks which would help resolve environmental and sanitary issues.
For his part, Junior Minister Damry underlined that every Ministry and relevant stakeholders must work together to improve the pig breeding sector. He called upon pig breeders to put forward suggestions that can be considered in the forthcoming budgetary exercise.
The need for veterinarians to provide adequate services as and when required by pig breeders and the schemes proposed by the Small Farmers Welfare Fund for this industry were also on the agenda.
