Cattle farming offers new opportunities ahead of Eid

Mehedi Alamin

Najir Hossain Nasir returned home from abroad during the pandemic after losing his job. Failure to find work and an alternative source of employment prompted him to raise cattle like many others in his native Munshiganj.

“The three cows are all I have now. I do not have agricultural land or any other regular earning source. I will have to run my family for the next one year by selling these cows in the Eid market,” he said.

Animal sacrifice generates employment at various stages. Many families, like that of Nasir, are fully dependent on cattle farming.

Millions of people lost jobs during this coronavirus pandemic, forcing them to look for alternative sources of income. The Eid-ul-Azha provides a massive opportunity for the people to earn some extra cash to sustain through this period of hardship.

People like Nasir and other traders have prepared around 12 million sacrificial animals and the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) says it expects the sale of 10 million animals this year.

Last year, 9.5 million cattle were sold during the Eid.

This time, the average price of a cow is estimated to be around Tk 85,000.

“We are expecting around 10 million animals to be traded for sacrifice this year – around 83 per cent of the total animals,” Dr Debashis Das, Director (Extension) of DLS, told The Business Post.

“All the cattle will not be sold before Eid. Some of them will be sold in weeks after the Eid,” he said.

Among the sacrificial cattle prepared for the market, 4.5 million are cow and buffalo, 7.3 million goat and sheep and 4,765 other animals including camels and rams, according to DLS estimate.

Zeenat Sultana, Deputy Director (Farm) of DLS, analysed the online cattle market for the last 11 days. She explained that the average price of a cow and buffalo is Tk 85,000 while goat and sheep are fetching Tk 12,000.

Between July 2 and July 13, a total of 1,57,288 cattle were sold at more than 700 online market places for Tk 1,116 crore, according to DLS.

Among the traded animals, 1,27,552 were cows and 29,736 goats.

“If we take the average price, then 3.8 million cow and buffalo will be sold for Tk 32,431 crore. On the other hand, 6.1 million goat and sheep are expected to be sold at Tk 7,416 crore,” Zeenat explained.

Together, cow, buffalo, goat and sheep are expected to be sold for around Tk 40,000 crore.

Abu Yusuf, professor of Development Studies of Dhaka University sees multiple economic benefits of animal sacrifice.

“The leather market is mainly dependent on animal sacrifice as half of the annual slaughter takes place during Eid-ul-Azha,” he noted. “The country annually earns around $1 billion in foreign currency from leather, leather goods and footwear export. Animal sacrifice made it possible.”

According to standard set by DLS, the average weight of a local cow is assumed to be 250kg and they produce 120-125kg meat.

In ShahjadpurUpazila of Sirajganj, the largest cattle hub in the country, 60,000 cows and 45,000 goat and sheep are being prepared for the Eid market this year.

“Most of the cows will be sold for something between Tk 80,000 and Tk 90,000,” said Mizanur Rahman, Shahjadpur Upazila livestock officer.