The unhappiest Eid for cattle farmers and traders
Thousands of cattle are place to stay unsold this Eid time thanks to coronavirus, which includes eaten up the profit of the country's burgeoning middle-class and in addition instilled worries of coronavirus contagion among the upper class for partaking found in the sacrificial ritual.
The reluctance of both classes has left thousands of cattle farmers are actually looking at massive losses.
Buoyed simply by the stellar returns this past year, when he offered most of his 140 cows one and half months ahead of Eid, Md Akbar Alam Upal, controlling director of Suit and Fresh Agro in Keraniganj Upazila, reared 300 cows because of this season.
Until yesterday, he managed to sell only 60 cows and at prices 20 to 25 per cent lower than this past year.
For example, he sold a cow weighing 640 kg at Tk 2.20 lakh, the minimum price which ought to be around Tk 3 lakh.
"Each year big corporate groupings would purchase 30-40 cows for his or her factory staff members. But this season they are not taking part in Qurbani," Upal informed The Daily Star yesterday.
Upal already sequestered 150 cows for next time because of the low price.
"But, it is also wii move as I must feed them fodder and different substances. And the cattle would not grow many after a certain point."
This past year, he invested about Tk 3 crore and got Tk 30 lakh in profit. This season, he spent Tk 8 crore and can be estimating losses to the tune of Tk 60 lakh.
Cattle farming is a new phenomenon among literate youths on the country ever since neighbouring India imposed a ban about the export of cows to Bangladesh on 2014.
Boosted by success tales in dairy farming, Shahidul Islam Razu entered the business enterprise two years back following completing his Master's level from a government school in the capital. This past year, he sold all of his 20 cows and pocketed a revenue of Tk 4 lakh.
This year, his Contemporary Dairy Farm in Keraniganj reared 25 cows therefore far they were able to sell just one single cow.
Desperate to remove the cattle, he's now offering special discounts of Tk 5,000 to 7,000 about each cow.
"But, there are very little customers. I believe people have no cash," he said, adding that he is hard-selling on Facebook also but found no response.
Regardless, he must sell the cows at a lesser price this Eid or 8 weeks later since it costs a lot to feed them, he added.
Besides the economic downturn due to the rogue virus, there are two other reasons for the dire problem in cattle trading, explained Md Imran Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Dairy Farmers' Association (BDFA).
One is that the very rich who all used to sacrifice big cows each year are not taking part in Qurbani this time around for concern with the virus and the different is the restriction on performing Qurbani imposed by smooth owners' associations or casing societies.
"Many want to execute Qurbani due to their religious obligation but are unable to do so as a result of barricade set by the associations."
Hossain, who owns Sadeeq Agro, among the country's most important dairy farms positioned in the capital Mohammadpur, went on to urge the government to eliminate these obstacles to save lots of a large number of centrifugal poor cow farmers.
Sadeeq Agro prepared 2,100 cows because of this Eid and so far were able to sell only 450.
This past year, the farm had distributed 75 % of its cattle fourteen days before Eid. He previously reared 1,900 cows.
He projects a lot more than 1,000 cows would remain unsold this season.
Hossain as well demanded the government to supply funds from the stimulus bundle to the suffering dairy farmers in order that they may continue available.
SMALL COWS ARE Found in HIGH DEMAND
As coronavirus ate aside significant portions of people's income, clients are deciding on a small cow.
Buyers who also used to avail cows well worth Tk 1 lakh or perhaps Tk 1.2 lakh are actually looking for cows worthwhile Tk 65,000 to Tk 75,000 this time around, said cattle investor Kakoli Khan, the owner of Shuddho Krishi, an f-commerce site.
According to her, 90 % of her clients prefer small cows.
Ecommerce platforms involved with cattle trading also confirmed that tiny cows are being sold as soon as they are uploaded on the webpage.
"Professional dairy farmers generally sell big cows. This time around, the demand for big cows is low. So, they'll face huge losses available," stated Hossain, president of the BDFA.
Even so, according to Khan, the demand for goats is normally high. She has currently used 31 orders for goats.
NORTH BENGAL FARMERS HIT HARD
Beside coronavirus, northern cattle farmers were fighting with lumpy skin condition (LSD) as their cattle were consistently getting infected at an alarming pace by another highly contagious virus LSD.
Now, they are facing a fresh backlash: sustaining flood.
Abdul Aziz of Kurigram districts Fulpur Bazar area has to take shelter on The road with his cattle As the flood has submerged his house and farmhouse.
"Hundreds of cows have been taken to the streets," Aziz informed The Daily Celebrity yesterday.
Saidul Alam, a cattle investor, brought his 32 cows to the road.
He bought a complete of 42 cows, which only ten have already been sold with a good nominal profit.
"I can't sleeping thinking about how exactly to sell the remaining 32 cows as there are no clients," he added.
It's the same report among the cattle traders and farmers found in neighbouring Lalmonirhat district.
Abdul Hakim, a cattle farmer, has sold one among his five cows at a loss of Tk 23,000.
"Flood and coronavirus possess destroyed our business," he said, adding that he's staring at losses of Tk 1.25 lakh if he must sell off his cattle at the existing price.
This season 1.19 crore cattle have already been prepared for Qurbani, up from 1.18 crore this past year, in line with the Department of Livestock Services.
