{"id":27437,"date":"2023-01-24T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/?post_type=ground_up_stories&#038;p=27437"},"modified":"2025-09-03T17:11:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T11:41:30","slug":"a-flu-in-majuli-whats-killing-thousands-of-pigs-in-assam","status":"publish","type":"ground_up_stories","link":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/ground-up-stories\/a-flu-in-majuli-whats-killing-thousands-of-pigs-in-assam\/","title":{"rendered":"A flu in Majuli: What\u2019s killing thousands of pigs in Assam?"},"content":{"rendered":"<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"IDR Ground Up | A flu in Majuli: What&rsquo;s killing thousands of pigs in Assam?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_lJzqrGHzys?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>Pig farming is a traditional occupation of the Mising community in Majuli district, Assam. Farmers breed pigs that they sell to butchers in the meat market. Since pork is in great demand in the area, it has been a lucrative business for the community.<\/p><p>For years, the model was simple. The farmers would buy pigs from traders who would visit the local markets. It was difficult to trace where the foreign breed of pigs came from, but people did not care because those piglets would fetch a price of INR 9,000. In comparison, the local variety would fetch INR 5,000 at best.<\/p><p>But it all started going downhill in early 2019 when the pigs contracted African swine flu. Due to the contagious nature of the disease, if even one pig was found infected, all the pigs within a kilometre&rsquo;s radius had to be killed. Now, three years later, there is a new illness affecting the pigs&mdash;symptoms include fever and reduced hunger. Keisham Baldev Singh, who works with <a href=\"https:\/\/sesta.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SeSTA<\/a>, a nonprofit that operates in the rural Northeast, says, &ldquo;It is very difficult to figure out exactly what is causing the fever and why the pigs are dying. During the African swine flu, a team of vets would visit piggeries and inspect the pigs for signs of  illness. But this time, the pig farmers are so scared of losing their livestock that they aren&rsquo;t even allowing the vets inside.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p><p>Ranjumoni Pathori, a pig rearer in Majuli&rsquo;s Goal Gaon village, says, &ldquo;When it seems that a pig is ill, I leave it outside the shed, away from the other pigs.&rdquo; When her neighbour&rsquo;s piggery got infected, they lost pigs worth INR 30,000&ndash;40,000. Wanting to avoid that fate, Ranjumoni stopped all interactions with them. She says, &ldquo;They come to collect milk from me, but I just leave it near the gate.&rdquo;<\/p><p>&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t know what this disease is and what will happen,&rdquo; says Ranjumoni. She took a loan to start her piggery that she still hasn&rsquo;t been able to fully repay.<\/p><p><em>As told to IDR.<\/em><\/p><p><em>Keisham Baldev Singh works as an executive in <a href=\"https:\/\/sesta.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SeSTA<\/a>&rsquo;s Majuli block; Ranjumoni Pathori is a pig rearer and piggery owner in Goal Gaon, Majuli.<\/em><\/p><p>&mdash;<\/p><p><strong>Know more: <\/strong>Learn <a href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/monkey-business-the-unforseen-consequences-of-majulis-erosion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">how<\/a> the rapid erosion of Majuli river island is causing human&ndash;animal conflict.<\/p><p><strong>Do more: <\/strong>Connect with the author at <a href=\"mailto:keisham@sesta.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">keisham@sesta.org<\/a> to learn more about and support his work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":27439,"template":"","categories":[582,11],"tags":[3578,3682,3700,3702],"series":[],"meta-filter":[],"schema-filter":[743],"no-display":[],"class_list":["post-27437","ground_up_stories","type-ground_up_stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-instagram","category-livelihoods","tag-adivasi-communities","tag-northeast-india","tag-rural-employment","tag-rural-india","contributor-keisham-baldev-singh","contributor-ranjumoni-pathuri","states-assam","schema-filter-article"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A flu in Majuli: What\u2019s killing thousands of pigs in Assam? | IDR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A pig farmer in Assam\u2019s Majuli river island talks about a mysterious flu affecting pigs in her area and shares her worries about an uncertain future.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/a-flu-in-majuli-whats-killing-thousands-of-pigs-in-assam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"kn_IN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A flu in Majuli: What\u2019s killing thousands of pigs in Assam?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_lJzqrGHzys Pig farming is a traditional occupation of the Mising community in Majuli district, Assam. Farmers breed pigs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/a-flu-in-majuli-whats-killing-thousands-of-pigs-in-assam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"India Development Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T11:41:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/a-woman-sitting-on-a-chair.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A flu in Majuli: What\u2019s killing thousands of pigs in Assam? | IDR","description":"A pig farmer in Assam\u2019s Majuli river island talks about a mysterious flu affecting pigs in her area and shares her worries about an uncertain future.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/a-flu-in-majuli-whats-killing-thousands-of-pigs-in-assam\/","og_locale":"kn_IN","og_type":"article","og_title":"A flu in Majuli: What\u2019s killing thousands of pigs in Assam?","og_description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_lJzqrGHzys Pig farming is a traditional occupation of the Mising community in Majuli district, Assam. Farmers breed pigs","og_url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/a-flu-in-majuli-whats-killing-thousands-of-pigs-in-assam\/","og_site_name":"India Development Review","article_modified_time":"2025-09-03T11:41:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":680,"url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/a-woman-sitting-on-a-chair.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/a-flu-in-majuli-whats-killing-thousands-of-pigs-in-assam\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/a-flu-in-majuli-whats-killing-thousands-of-pigs-in-assam\/"},"author":{"name":"Jasmine Bal","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#\/schema\/person\/66e278e098561f03c7923c9895a5ea3e"},"headline":"A flu in Majuli: What\u2019s killing thousands of pigs in Assam?","datePublished":"2023-01-24T10:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-03T11:41:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/a-flu-in-majuli-whats-killing-thousands-of-pigs-in-assam\/"},"wordCount":425,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/a-flu-in-majuli-whats-killing-thousands-of-pigs-in-assam\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/a-woman-sitting-on-a-chair.jpg","keywords":["Adivasi communities","Northeast India","rural employment","rural India"],"articleSection":["Instagram","Livelihoods"],"inLanguage":"kn-IN"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/a-flu-in-majuli-whats-killing-thousands-of-pigs-in-assam\/","url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/a-flu-in-majuli-whats-killing-thousands-of-pigs-in-assam\/","name":"A flu in Majuli: What\u2019s killing thousands of pigs in Assam? 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