Except for a few semi-commercial pig farms in Kerala, Punjab, and Goa, 70 per cent of the pig population in India is grown in traditional small-holder, low-input demand-driven production systems. A typical production method consists of a basic pigsty, with food consisting of locally available cereals, vegetables, and agricultural byproducts, as well as domestic trash.

Because pork eating is popular among certain communities, better pig husbandry programmes and pig-based integrated fish farming have all made important contributions to the government’s poverty alleviation initiatives.

The overall number of pigs in the nation has fallen by 7.54 per cent from the last census, and the total number of pigs in the country is 10.29 million in 2012. Pigs represent around 2.01% of the overall animal population. Males make up 4.96 million of the entire population (3.68 million indigenous and 1.28 million exotic), while females make up 5.33 million (4.16 million indigenous and 1.17 million exotic).

According to experts, the number of indigenous and crossbred/exotic pigs in India is changing. The majority of pigs in India are indigenous breeds (76 per cent), although the number of cross-bred and exotic pigs rose by 12.7 per cent between 2003 and 2012. The patterns demonstrate that indigenous pigs make up the majority of the pig population, and the population level has been nearly constant since the 1992 census. However, crossbred pigs increased from 14 per cent in 1992 to 23.86 per cent in 2012.