Photo: Messenger
Emdad Hossain came to the capital’s Kamalapur cattle market two days ago with 40 cows from Sirajganj. When some buyers asked him the price of a cow on Tuesday afternoon, he replied, “Tk 2.4 lakh.” The figure surprised them and they asked Emdad why it was so high.
Emdad replied ironically, “Even if you just touch the cow rope, that will cost you Tk 1 lakh. Each of the cows I have here costs more than Tk 2 lakh.” He assumed that the prices of most of the cows in that market are more than Tk 1 lakh. He said many will bring small cows to the market two to three days before Eid from the districts near Dhaka.
Speaking about high cattle prices this year, he said animal feed prices increased more than twice in the last few years. “Until my animals are sold, I will pay 10 people to assist me day and night until Eid. This will add up to several lakhs of taka. Apart from this, I have to bear family expenses while commodity prices are high. Selling cows even at high prices leads to losses.”
Visiting cattle markets in Kamalapur and Khilgaon, it was found that the markets had not yet gathered pace ahead of Eid. Children living in nearby areas visited markets with their fathers. Some young people also wandered around, but no one bought animals.
Even though trade started, markets were not fully decorated. Marquees were yet to be set up in some parts of the bamboo structures. Workers were giving the finishing touches. Even though there were not large crowds of buyers and sellers in the markets, cattle trucks kept arriving. Lessors expected that crowds would get bigger gradually as people mostly buy animals a few days before Eid.
In the south Kamalapur camel farm area, Ashraf set up a table to collect hasil. He said no cow had been sold yet and they were making arrangements for those bringing cows to the market. “Security arrangements have been made for all traders and buyers. Counterfeit money detection machines have been installed by the lessors to identify fake notes.”
Azizul came to Maniknagar area to see cows. He told The Daily Messenger he lives nearby and brought his child to explore the market. “All cows look good, but they are also expensive.
Once upon a time, we could buy cows grazed by farmers at cheap prices. Now those cows are no longer available, and improved breeds are cultivated in agro farms. So, prices have also increased.” He also said he is just exploring the market since there is no place to keep cows in residences in Dhaka till Eid. He also said he would buy a cow one to two days before Eid.
There are 20 temporary animal markets in the two city corporation areas of Dhaka. Among them, 11 are located in Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and nine in Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC). Apart from this, there is the Gabtali market under DNCC and Sharuliya under DSCC, taking the total number of markets to 22 this year. According to sources at the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, there are more than 1.3 crore sacrificial animals this year while the demand is 1.1 crore. In other words, there are 20 lakh more animals than the demand.
Messenger/Disha
