No lessee for Barisal cattle markets till now
Shortage of cattle and high prices keep them away
Staff Reporter, Barisal
In a sharp contrast to previous years, no one has yet applied for the lease of temporary cattle markets in Barisal district ahead of Eid-ul-Azah. Sources said the usual applicants, mostly cadres of the ruling party, have shied away this year fearing shortage of cattle and high price. The haat-bazar inspector of Barisal City Corporation, Nurul Islam, said out of the six main cattle markets in Barisal city, only two parties have applied for the leases of the Korapur and Kawnia markets this year. The corporation was yet to receive lease applications for the other four markets at Kalizira, Ward No. 22, Mirabari and Jubok Housing, he added.
Furthermore, no one has applied for the leases of the 69 occasional cattle markets in the district.
According to sources, a large number of lease seekers are usually seen in the BCC office a month ahead of Eid. They lobby hard for the leases. Some of them even submit recommendations from influential people along with their applications, a source said. But not this time.
Runo Sardar, who applied for the Korapur market lease, said he was apprehensive of huge losses, but had still applied in order to maintain his status.
Amirul Islam and Babul Hosen, who were given the lease for the Kawnia cattle market, said profits from the occasional markets depended on a steady supply of cattle, mainly by smugglers. But it would be difficult to recover their investment this year because of the shortage of cattle smuggled from India.
When the smugglers brought in Indian cattle, the prices came down and buying peaked. But after the Narendra Modi government came to power in India, cross-border smuggling of cattle has fallen drastically, Amirul said. The market is now totally dependent on local cattle, which have very high prices. This affects sales as well as profits, he added.
A visit to the Bagiya cattle market on Friday revealed the shortage of supply and sorry state of sales. Market sources said about 4,500 heads of cattle had arrived in the markets three weeks prior to Eid-ul-Azha last year and 3,166 were sold by September 11. This year, however, 382 heads of cattle have arrived and only 56 were sold till Friday, they added.
Morshed Alam, who leased the market by spending Tk. 8 lakh, said the total recovery of his lease money depended on the Eid cattle market. But this year, business has been a flop so far. No cattle has arrived here from the border areas including Satkhira, Kustia, Jhinaidha, Chuadanga and Jessore till now. It is impossible to do business only with local cattle, he added.
Sources in the district livestock department, however, countered that there was adequate stock of domestic animals. They said the district has 830 dairy farms with a minimum of 500,000 heads of cattle, including buffaloes, 200,000 goats and over 10,000 rams. Even one-fourth of these are sufficient for sacrificial purposes during Eid, they added.
According to the prevailing market rates, a large local bull is being sold for Tk. 1.10 lakh to Tk 1.6 lakh, a middle-sized one is priced at Tk. 80,000 to Tk. 1.10 lakh, while a small one costs Tk. 70,000 to Tk. 85,000.
In the Hatkhola goat market in the city, the going rate for a big goat is Tk. 26,000, against Tk. 18,000 to Tk. 19,000 last year; a middle-sized one costs Tk. 18,000, against last years Tk 14,000, while a small one costs Tk. 14,000, compared to Tk. 8,000 last year, sources said.
