Home ›› 14 Jun 2023 ›› Front
This year, over 1.23 crore sacrificial animals are set to be sold around the country during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha, up by 1.65 per cent or over 2 lakh compared to last year’s 1.21 crore.
However, their prices, which have been rising for a while due to the increased costs of cattle feed and overall production costs, will put a significant dent in people’s pockets.
During last year’s Eid-ul-Azha, the second-largest religious festival for Muslims around the world, the number of sacrificial animals had increased by 2 lakh, which was over 1.68 per cent compared to 2021.
Among this year’s livestock for slaughter, over 50 lakh are cows and bulls, more than 60 lakh are goats and the rest are buffaloes, sheep and camels.
According to cattle farmers, the number of sacrificial animals that can be sacrificed in the country this year is more than 1.21 crore.
Department of Livestock (DLS) officials and farmers have said that even though the number of animals eligible Continued from page 1 for sacrifice has not increased, there will be a surplus than the demand.
If the animals to be slaughtered during this Eid increase by a minimum of 5 per cent compared to last year, it will stand at 1.05 crore, they said.
There will be a surplus of 16-18 lakh animals eligible for sacrifice around the country. As a result, there will be no shortage of sacrificial animals this year, they added.
Meanwhile, market insiders have said that the prices of cattle may go up by 5-10 per cent this year due to a rise in the prices of fodder, utility costs and cost of living.
As the country’s inflation rate is hovering around 10 per cent, the prices of cattle will also increase logically, they added.
DLS Director General Dr Md Emdadul Haque Talukder said that like in 2022, there are more sacrificial animals than the demand this year. “We have nothing to get worried about animals ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.”
“As the demand will be met with domestic animals, we have kept a close eye on the borders so that cattle cannot enter the country illegally,” he added.
According to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, more than 99.50 lakh cattle were slaughtered across the country during Eid-ul-Azha last year. It was over 8.57 lakh (9.43 per cent) compared to more than 90.93 lakh cattle sacrificed across the country during Eid-ul-Azha in 2021.
Dairy Farmers Association President Imran Hossain said the number of animals slaughtered during Eid-ul-Azha had decreased substantially in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since the pandemic’s impact has been minimised, the numbers of sacrificial animals and animals eligible for sacrifice are increasing every year, he said.
But animal rearing did not increase at the rate it should have due to an abnormal increase in the prices of cattle feed, Imran said, adding that the prices of cattle may increase by 5-10 per cent this year.
According to DLS, total sacrifices in the country were over 1.04 crore in 2017. It increased to over 1.05 crore in 2018 and over 1.06 crore in 2019.
The sacrifice of animals started decreasing in 2020 due to the economic recession caused by the pandemic. In 2020, 94,50,263 animals were sacrificed around the country.
In 2021, the number of animals sacrificed further dropped to 90,92,242.
