Pipi Keithellakpam, 30, of West Imphal district, Manipur, talks about her life as a piggery business woman. This is her story – in her own words.
I was born in a middle class family and was third among four children. My father ran a small grocery shop in Luker village.
As a child, I wanted to become a police officer but somehow couldn’t.
I decided to start a pig farm because pork is in huge demand in the northeastern states. It’s used in almost all our rituals – starting from birth to death.
When I shared my idea of starting a piggery business with my parents – to my shock – they were angry and didn’t support me. They said it was the business of men and women shouldn’t do it.
But I was determined to start the business as I knew that it had a huge potential.
In 2016 I decided to leave home when my parents refused to let me start a pig farm.
I needed at least Rs 8,000 to buy five pigs to start the business. I sold my earrings for Rs 1,600. I had some savings which also came in handy.
I started rearing the pigs in farmland located around 8 kilometres from my house. I lived alone in the farm and did all the work like feeding the animals and cleaning their waste.
Initially I sold the pigs to shops that sell meat. Slowly my business grew. And I started making good profit.
Then I set up a meat processing unit where we made pork pickles, smoked pork and such. I started earning Rs 65 lakh annually and hired eight people.
The district, as well as the state administration, felicitated me.
My parents came to meet me only in 2019 – three years after I left home – when the media began to write about my piggery business.
But in 2021 my business crashed completely when a disease hit the animals on my farm.
I lost 450 pigs in three days.
It was a massive blow to my business and I was back to square one.
I was so devastated with the death of the pigs that I didn’t talk to anybody for the next one month.
But soon I was ready to rear pigs again as I’ve always focussed on my goal to achieve success.
I had to start again from scratch, but my past success gave me the confidence to do it.
The business somehow managed to limp back. I have 50 pigs now, mostly cross-breed.
My loss also made me realise that several farmers face the same predicament of livestock loss.
So I’ve started an artificial insemination centre, so that semen can be delivered directly into the reproductive canal of a female pig.
The process minimises the spread of diseases as a male pig is not required for breeding.
I’m proud to say that I’m the first woman pig farmer of Manipur to start a piggery business in this scientific way.
The villagers who censured me are now proud of my achievement.
I focussed on my dream and left no stone unturned to achieve it. I advise others to do the same.
Women are in no way inferior to men and I’ve proved it.
Reporting and photographs by Gurvinder Singh, a Kolkata-based journalist.
