Home ›› 26 Apr 2023 ›› Front
With the joint initiative of Livestock Department and the farmers, 47 tonnes of beef and over 77 tonnes of milk were sold during the month of Ramadan through mobile sales centres.
Sources in Department of Livestock Services (DLS) said sales will continue throughout the entire year if the government takes decision in this regard.
Besides, more than 7 lakh chicken eggs, 17 tonnes of broiler chickens and 2 tonnes of mutton were sold. According to sources in Department of Livestock Services (DLS), the total value of these products sold during the month of Ramadan was about Tk 5 crore.
DLS officials say that these mobile sales centres are getting popular day by day and the number of sales centres is being increased every year. If the ministry concerned cooperates, it is possible to keep these sales centres open throughout the entire year. In this case, separate division should be formed. They also said that they will discuss the matter with the ministry.
At the initiative of the fisheries and livestock ministry, sale of milk, eggs and meat at cheap rates during the holy month of Ramadan started on March 23. During this time, more than 47 tonnes of beef were sold at Tk 640 per kg, about 77 tonnes of pasteurized liquid milk at Tk 80 per litre, more than 7 lakh 77 thousand eggs at Tk 10 per piece, about 17 tonnes of broil-er chicken at Tk 340 per kg and about 2 tonnes of mutton at Tk 940 per kg. The value of these products was around Tk 5 crore.
Director General of Department of Livestock Services Dr. Md. Emdadul Haque Talukder told The Business Post, “In the first year when we started selling, there were 10 mobile sales centres and it increased to 15 next year. Milk, eggs and meat have been sold at cheap prices through 20 mobile centres this year. The number of sales centres is increasing day by day based on the demand of the people. If demand rises, we will try to continue sales throughout the year.”
But the ministry will have to take decision in this regard. “Because the vehicles we use are rented from other projects. The officials who are in charge also work at different departments of the ministry. Actually selling milk, eggs and meat is not our job, boosting production is our main duty. We provide this service for only one month as decided by the government. If the government decides, then we will provide this service all the year round. However, a separate sales department has to be formed for this purpose. We will discuss these issues with the ministry in future.”
According to the DLS data, about 230,000 customers have received the service during the 28-day programme. Of total cus-tomers, more than 51 per cent are women. On an average, 5 members of their family, a total of about 1.15 lakh consumers got taste of animal meat this Ramadan through this marketing programme.
In order to maintain the animal meat sales system during the corona pandemic and to increase the immunity of the con-sumers, Department of Livestock launched a mobile marketing system of selling eggs and meat in almost all districts and important upazilas of the country in 2021. The mobile marketing system was launched at 15 spots in the capital from the first Ramadan in 2022. It was sold for the third time this year at 20 important spots in the capital.
