Coronavirus has brought some radical changes to everyday life of middle-to-upper-class people who are increasingly becoming dependent on online markets to buy from daily essentials and outfits to sacrificial animals for Eid-ul Adha to avoid contracting infections.
In line with the change of consumers, cattle growers and online marketplace entrepreneurs are hoping for better sales of sacrificing animals in digital platforms than the recent past as people are increasingly worried about healthcare and social distancing in traditional cattle markets.
The number of Covid-19 deaths saw an unexpected surge as the death toll crosses 2,052 and Dhaka remains the worst-affected region with almost 60 percent of the total cases followed by Chattogram.
A total of 7,113 inpatients were admitted for general beds and 355 were to ICUs in Covid-19 hospitals or specialised units of hospitals across the country on the other hand while on the other, 764 patients were released from hospitals, according to the DGHS.
In the face of looming danger of coronavirus infection in the cattle market as health experts warned that the situation could worsen with an upsurge in contracts if guidelines on healthcare and social distancing are not strictly maintained.
Former BSMMU VC Prof Dr Nazrul Islam, member of national technical advisory committee to tackle the pandemic of coronavirus, said, coronavirus outbreak will deteriorate if rules on healthcare and social distancing are not followed in the cattle market.
“I fear that the coronavirus outbreak will move to the next level after Eid-ul-Adha and will get out of hand,” he added.
To protect people from taking the pain of purchasing sacrificial animals by visiting cattle markets in this unprecedented time, online platforms are offering a total package from buying sacrificial animals to processing of meat and sending them to consumers’ door steps.
Different e-commerce sites with the help of ICT ministry and Dhaka City Corporations are planning to launch a digital cattle market targeting Eid sale.
Daraz authorities said, “This year's Eid is very different from normal time Eid because of pandemic. We tried our best to serve the customer in this pandemic time and hope to meet the expectations of the consumer this time as we have a wide range of cattle collection sourced from the different parts of the country."
Cattle sales see a sharp rise on digital platforms over the years and this year, business insiders are hopeful about a significant turnover as coronavirus dented the long running behaviour of the consumers heavily.
Cattle farmers also resort to social media platforms to sell their cattle in an existing uneasy environment, giving them hopes of better sales.
Many farmers, cattle fatteners and businessmen are arranging e-hat and cattle fairs in digital media, uploading pictures, videos and prices of the cattle.
They are also offering home delivery of the cattle to the buyers along with complete processing of meat in some cases.
Online marketplace bikroy.com posting pictures of cows, goats and other animals with price tags mainly sourced from Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Bogura and Cumilla regions. Once the order is confirmed, bikroy.com will reach the animals to the buyers.
Daraz is going to arrange a cattle market for the third consecutive time with 350 cows from Tk 72 thousand to Tk 3.96 lakh price tag which they claim ‘organic’.
Those cows were reared in Sherpur, Munshiganj, Cumilla and Chattogram ‘organically’.
Order will be taken from July 3 to 25 on prepayment basis and delivery will be started from July 27 to 31 in Dhaka and Chattogram.
Managing Director of Daraz Bangladesh Limited Syed Mostahidal Hoq said, "We are arranging a virtual cattle market for the third consecutive season and this year is no exception. Our consumers will be able to buy ‘organically’ raised cattle from our site".
General Secretary of Bangladesh Dairy Development Forum Imran Hossen said, "We are thinking about strengthening online hat instead of traditional cattle market on ground of prevailing situation. We have 1600 cattle in our possession and those will be sold in eight branches sprawling in different parts of the country through digital platform."
Hossen, also the owner of Sadeeq Agro Ltd said, the government should establish a helpline to combat forgery so that nobody can embezzle money from buyers and sellers.
Commenting on the prospect of an online cattle market, director general of livestock Dr. Abdur Zabbar said, cattle sale in online marketplaces will increase significantly this year as the situation of the country is deteriorating fast in coronavirus pandemic.
