Marginal farmers who rear sacrificial cattle in Jibannagar upazila of Chuadanga are extremely worried about selling the cows at Korbani Hats this year due to the corona virus epidemic. Cattle dealers who buy the cattle from the farmers are also not being seen for the lockdown.
Especially the farmers who have kept only one or four to five cows ahead of Eid-ul-Adha are skeptical about whether they will be able to sell cows at a reasonable price this year or be able to sell them at all.
Seasonal cattle traders along with farmers have also expressed fears of financial losses. There are only 17 to 18 days left before Eid. However, like other years, so far no interested people have been seen buying cows in the area.
Keeping the religious cattle sacrifice in mind, the farmers who raised sacrificial animals including cows and goats expected that they would make a profit by selling the animals at the market before Eid but, the global corona epidemic has created a threat of immense loss for them.
Cattle keepers say that cattle traders from different parts of the country start buying cows and goats from house to house a month and a half before the start of Korbani Hat every year. Due to the Corona situation, no one is interested in buying cows this time. They fear that this time the cows may have to be sold at a lower price due to lack of buyers.
Cattle farmers claim that prices of all commodities needed in raising cattle have gone up over the past year due to corona. Accordingly, the price of cattle should be higher but, due to the Corona situation, all the cattle markets in the district including the ones in Jibannagar have closed down. There is no possibility of the markets being set before the sacrifice and for this reason they are worried about selling cows.
Abu Bakkar a farmer of Bajdia village of Jibannagar said, “I am worried about getting a fair price by selling cattle in the Corona situation. Tk 130 to 150 has to be spent in a day for rearing a cow. The cows have to be given husk, grass and other commodities as food every day. The biggest fear is that if I can't sell the cows, I will loose a lot of money spent in last 7 to 8 months. Again, it will cost a lot of money more to keep these animals until the next Eid-ul-Adha”.
Abdul Alim of Anantapur village said that the demand for sacrificial animals has fallen drastically due to the financial crisis caused by many people loosing their job in the Corona situation. Many are refraining from buying animals due to health risk as well. For all these reasons, he is very worried about the cattle market this time, he added.
Shahin Reza of Mrigmari village said, “I bought 3 cows taking loans from NGOs and other sources. I raised them at home for selling purpose ahead of Eid-ul-Adha. However, in the current situation I am worried whether the cows will be sold at all as this time the number of sacrifices might be less”.
Bisharat Ali of Ghughragachhi village said that a sack of wheat husk was priced at Tk 1,100 six months ago, which has increased to Tk 1,400 now. Earlier the price of Khail was Tk 30 to 32 per kg which increased to Tk 38-40 amid Corona crisis. Not only wheat husk and Khail, but the price of all cow feed has gone up by an average of 20 to 25 percent. In addition, there are no buyers or dealers to be seen this year.
Saidur Rahman, a cattle trader from Senerhuda village, said, “We are in the cattle trade all the year round. The first few days before the sacrifice are the busiest. However, for the pandemic situation cattle hats have not been able to sit for the last two months. And even in the moment before the sacrifice, the possibility of opening the market is very low. In this case, the market situation will be very bad. Good business cannot be expected in any way”.
According to the Jibannagar Upazila Livestock Office, 26,076 cattle are ready for sacrifice this year. Of these, 4,483 are cows, 29 are buffaloes, 21,410 are goats and 154 are sheep.
Jibannagar Upazila Animal Resources Officer Dr Md Lutfar Rahman said farmers keep cows in different villages of Jibannagar upazila on the occasion of sacrifice. The Upazila Livestock Office has advised the animal keepers to fatten the animals naturally and farmers have raised animals that way. Even in the midst of the Corona epidemic, our activities did not stop for a single day.