A cold storage facility in Siliguri for Haringhata Meat

SOUMITRA NANDI | MP | 7 April 2018 | Kolkata: In a bid to cater to the huge demand of Haringhata Meat in North Bengal, the West Bengal Livestock Development Corporation (WBLDC) has come up with a cold storage facility in Siliguri which will act as a central store for storing frozen meat.

"We have as many as 35 franchises ready to sell Haringhata Meat in North Bengal. However, due to lack of cold processing unit in North Bengal, we were facing difficulty to supply to these franchises from our unit in Haringhata, Nadia. This 10 metric tonne facility will help us to provide quality meat to the people of North Bengal in a more organised way," Gouri Shankar Koner, managing director of WBLDC said.

The same building with the storage facility also has an animal hospital with facilities for investigation of diseases and guest house facilities.

The whole project has entailed an investment of around Rs 2.16 crore. Koner said WBLDC, which comes under the aegis of the state Animal Resource Development department, has also set up a pig breeding farm at Mohitnagar in Jalpaiguri. Around 1,800 animals will be produced annually there.

"Haringhata Meat procures pig from farmers and in some cases, there have been concerns over quality. Now, we will have our own infrastructure for pig breeding and these animals will be slaughtered in our pig processing plant at Haringhata," Koner said.

It may be mentioned that pork products like salami, bacon and sausages of Haringhata Meat are in huge demand in the state. The pig breeding farm has had an investment of Rs 2.29 crore.

WBLDC has a 3.5 metric tonne capacity processing unit of chicken and pork at Haringhata in Nadia. Frozen meat and a plethora of value-added products made from meat are sold in 230-odd outlets in the state, under the brand name Haringhata Meat.

WBLDC is setting up a chicken and pork processing plant at Phansidewa in Darjeeling district which is expected to be operational by the middle of 2018.

"All these projects will help us to cater to the gap of demand and supply in North Bengal and

most importantly open up an avenue for export to North-Eastern states and Bhutan where there is a huge demand for quality meat," Koner said.