Bhogali and Economy

Bhogali Bihu, the harvest festival of Assam, is here. While Monday is the much-awaited uruka – the Bihu-eve feast, Bhogali Bihu is on Tuesday, the day when people worship fire by burning the meji early morning, and feast on various kinds of traditional Assamese delicacies. While Bhogali Bihu cuts across all kinds of caste, creed, language, religion and ethnicity, it also reflects the health of the state’s food production scenario. Looking back, one finds that Assam’s per capita income in 1950 was higher than that of the national average. Large-scale immigration from erstwhile East Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh took a heavy toll on Assam’s economy. The per capita income that came down drastically, seriously affecting the overall food production. Massive encroachment in the wetlands, for instance, affected fish production, while anthropogenic disturbance to the river-banks led to a cyclical scourge called floods, causing immense harm to standing crops. Assam for the first time became surplus in rice production around 1998-2000. Though this trend of increased rice production continues, Assam still needs to import wheat, maize, and pulses from other parts of the country. As the state celebrates Bhogali Bihu, it will also not be out of place to look at the production of fish, meat and poultry products. While Assam’s fish production has increased by over 33 percent in the last five years, the state had set a target of producing 4.73 lakh tonnes of fish during 2024-25 against an annual average demand of five lakh tonnes. No wonder, media reports have pointed out that about 3.6 lakh kilograms of fish has been brought in from other states just for consumption during Bhogali Bihu! According to the official website of the animal husbandry and veterinary department, Assam produces only around 47.50 crore eggs per annum against an annual requirement of 560 crore. Similarly, there is a shortfall of about 30 per cent in goat meat, while the state produces only about 70 per cent of the annual poultry meat requirement which is around 1350 lakh kilograms. Assam is said to be the largest consumer of pork in India, with over 2 million people consuming pork annually. While the state’s annual pork meat requirement is estimated to be around 1.94 lakh tonnes, it still imports 40 percent of its pork from other states due to limited processing facilities and logistical challenges. Given this scenario, what is required is an aggressive campaign to engage the local youth in food production, including pulses, fish, pig, goat and poultry. The good news however is that, despite the above scenario, Assam’s export of agricultural and horticultural products has gone up significantly in the past five or six years. As reported on the front page of the Sunday edition of this newspaper, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that the agri-horticultural exports have risen by 85 percent since 2019, with the value of exports in 2023-24 being put at Rs 4,000 crore.