Before this year’s World Cup, 1.2 metric tonnes (1,000 kg) of mutton reportedly travelled from Bengal’s Nadia district’s Haringhata meat plant to Qatar. The two shipments of goat and sheep meat from the Haringhata brand, controlled by the WB Livestock Development Corporation, were flown to Qatar on November 3. Swapan Debnath, minister of animal resources development (ARD), flagged off the consignments.
“Qatar is the host of World Cup Football this time and the meat is to be used during the tournament. This is the first ever Bengal government’s initiative in exporting mutton to foreign countries,” the minister said. The buyers for the meat are Dahiya Export and Import Limited, who has signed a long-term agreement with the Haringhata plant that would eventually guarantee a steady supply of mutton.
In addition to Qatar, the state supplied goat and sheep meat from the Haringhata processing centre to nations such as Kuwait, Hong Kong, and the Maldives, according to the animal resource development minister. The Commerce and Industry Ministry’s Central Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) approved the state government’s licence to produce 3.6 tonnes of meat per day.
Every day, 300 sheep and goats are butchered at the Nadia plant and sent to Calcutta, from where they are distributed to the 667 Haringhata stores spread over Bengal. Haringhata meat is halal-approved and very popular across Bengal.
Gouri Shankar Koner, managing director of the West Bengal Livestock Development Corporation Limited (WBLDCL), said, “The first plant, set up in Durgapur, was a service slaughterhouse for goats. Farmers would get their livestock slaughtered in a scientific and hygienic manner there. The service was discontinued after a couple of years.”
A memorandum of agreement was signed between the WBLDCL, Dahiya Import and Export Limited, and the APEDA after it granted its approval in September of this year. According to an APEDA official, India is a significant supplier of sheep and goat meat to the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the Maldives, with exports valued at over 60 million dollars in 2021-22.