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On Wednesday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that one of the world’s largest conglomerates based in Thailand is looking to set up business in the state. The Charoen Pokphand Group has eight business lines and owns controlling stakes in Charoen Pokphand Foods which is one of the largest producers of shrimp, poultry and pork in the world.
Sarma mentioned in the social media post that the Thai company is keen to set up a piggery and poultry unit in Assam. He said that it would boost the Assamese youth in this industry.
The Assam Chief Minister, who is in Japan to promote the ‘Advantage Assam 2.0’ global investor summit, said that the firm’s leadership is in Guwahati and he joined its chairman Adirek Sripratak in a video conference. Sarma further said that he expects Charoen Pokphand to participate in the summit in February this year.
Assam is emerging as an investment hotspot 🏗️
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) January 22, 2025
After completing my engagements for the day in Tokyo, I joined a Video Conference with Mr. Adirek Sripratak, Chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group, Thailand’s leading agri company.
The company’s leadership is currently in Guwahati and… pic.twitter.com/xk4TBXRaav
However, the Chief Minister’s post was met with strong criticism from the All Assam Pig Farmers’ Association. The organization, in a comment to his announcement, called for drastic measures stating that the one business in Assam that was in the hands of the indigenous people, will now be handed to a multi-national conglomerate.
“Round us up and shoot us before handing over our markets to outsiders. If there was one business that belonged to the indigenous people, it was piggery. Now, with your grace, that will also be handed over to a wealthy enterprise,” the state’s pig farmers’ association wrote.
A Dark Past
A 2014 investigation by The Guardian found that Charoen Pokphand (CP) Foods, the world’s largest prawn farmer, had a dark past. The company was found involved in slavery, often forcing workers to labour without pay for years under the threat of extreme violence. The report found that a large number of men were bought and sold like animals and were held against their will. They were used to man fishing boats deployed by CP Foods to feed fishmeal to its farmed prawns.
The Guardian talked to men who escaped from these boats and found that they were made to do 20-hour shifts with regular beatings, torture and witnessed execution-style killings. Some were forced to remain at sea for years; some were offered methamphetamine to keep them going; while some saw their fellows murdered in front of them.
Some migrant workers told how they had approached brokers for work in factories in Thailand, but were instead sold to boat captains for prices as little as around Rs 27,000.
CP Foods had then admitted that slave labour was part of its supply chain. It’s UK managing director had said, “We're not here to defend what is going on. We know there's issues with regard to the [raw] material that comes in [to port], but to what extent that is, we just don't have visibility,” he was cited by The Guardian as saying.
Also Read: The Pork Problem: Assam Govt Steps In To Revoke GMC Circular