Indian restriction can give a boost to cattle rearing locally
Manzurul Alam Mukul
September 25 marked the Eid-ul-Azha festival, which is also known as the Feast of Sacrifice. Over the course of this holiday period, Muslims across the globe have been slaughtering their best halal animals as a symbolic homage to the willingness of the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his first son as an act of supplication to Allah. According to some estimates, as many as 100 million animals are slaughtered across the Muslim world during Eid-ul-Azha As is traditional, a significant portion of the meat from these beasts is distributed among the poor and needy. But this year, possible shortage of sacrificial animals during the Eid-ul Azha created panic among the Muslims in our country as the Indian government restricted cattle trading in the border areas with Bangladesh from April this year. The Indian governments step pushed up meat prices in Bangladesh and put the leather industry in a crunch as India is one of prime sources of cattle in our country. A section of traders and people took the matter as an opportunity to earn money as the cattle trading business is good and profitable during the Eid-ul-Azha. They were trying to create panic and make money through providing wrong information and making artificial situations. Bangladeshi traders who operate auctions to facilitate the sale of cattle to slaughter houses, beef processing units, tanneries and bone crushing factories estimate the industry contributed 3 percent to the country`s $190 billion economy. It is also providing 15 percent of total employment in the economy.
The contribution of the livestock sub sector to GDP at constant prices was 2.58 percent in FY 2010. The estimated contribution to GDP during FY 2011-12 from this sub-sector was 2.50 percent.
Approximately 9% of total foreign currency is earned by exporting leather and leather products every year. Leather is a mentionable export product of our country.
Though the share of the livestock sub sector in GDP is small, it has immense contribution towards meeting the daily protein (animal protein) requirements.
But Bangladesh still continues to stay on the lower-end of the global protein consumption, especially meat and milk, though the government has scaled up efforts to improve protein consumption in the impoverished South Asian country.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), the per capita annual demand for meat is around 80kg in the world, while per capita meat consumption in Bangladesh is only 7.3kg a year.
Statistics from the WHO also shows the per capita annual meat consumption in Pakistan is 19kg, 50kg in China, over 100kg in Germany and United States and 70kg in Argentina.
However, the per hectare density of cattle head in Bangladesh is higher than any other country in the world. In Bangladesh, the number of cattle head per hectare is 2.49, while it is 1.12 in India, 0.70 in Pakistan, 0.38 in the United States, 0.81 in Denmark and 0.34 in Kenya. But we face shortage due to our huge population.
According to the Department of Livestock Services, the average milk production in Bangladesh is 5 million tonnes annually, which is around 40 per cent of the annual demand. The rest of the demand has to be fulfilled by imported milk (powdered milk and baby formula).
On the other hand, the annual meat production is currently 36 lakh tonnes, a large portion of which is covered by poultry. Of the total beef production in the country, around 25 per cent comes from Indian imported cows.
According to the Department of Livestock Services, there were two crore, 34 lakh and 88 thousand cows in 2013-14. This number reached two crore, 36 lakh and 36 thousand in 2014-15.
Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock and Bangladesh Raw Hide Merchants Association and Tanners Association of Bangladesh sources say that around 1.4 crore of cattle are being slaughtered every year in the country. Most of the cattle are being slaughtered during the Eid ul- Azha.
About 65 lakh cattle, including cow, buffalo, goat, sheep and other animals, were slaughtered as sacrificial animals during the Eid-ul-Azha in 2014.
There is no official record of cow smuggling from India to Bangladesh. But it is learnt that the country has to depend on over 25 lakh cows from India every year.
In 2013-14, a total of 21 lakh cattle came to Bangladesh from India, says data from the National Board of Revenue (NBR). And Bangladesh authorities, through the customs offices in Rajshahi, Chittagong, Khulna, Jessore, Rangpur and Sylhet, collected Tk 10.53 crore in fine on those animals.
In April this year, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh asked BSF jawans to put a stop to cattle smuggling across the Indo-Bangla border.
Rajnath Singh also travelled to the frontier with Bangladesh, calling on BSF men to halt cattle smuggling completely so that the people of Bangladesh give up eating beef.
There is economic pressure on both sides of the border. Some 25 lakh cattle are smuggled on average every year from India to Bangladesh illegally across the border. The $600 million-a- year trade has flourished over the past four decades which was badly affected due the Indian government steps.
The Times India, an Indian national daily, reports If BSF were to implement Singh`s instructions strictly, India would be saddled with an additional expenditure in excess of Rs 31,000 crore annually.
The Indian national daily says This will be the cost of sustaining around 1.25 crore cattle in various gaushalas (cowsheds) annually till they die naturally. The figure is four times higher than the allocation made by the government for nutrition of children under Integrated Child Development Scheme.
Life expectancy of cows in India varies between 15 and 20 years. Dairy industry sources say they generally stop producing milk about five years before their death. With 25 lakh cattle approaching borders every year, if the government puts a complete stop to cattle smuggling it would be saddled with 1.25 crore dry cattle to feed annually. Given that cumulative cost (maintenance of cowshed, payment of salaries to cowherds and feed) of sustaining a dry cow for a year would translate to roughly Rs 25,000, government would have to shell out Rs 31,250 crore annually, it reports.
The cost of acquiring land for cowsheds and initial investment in building the infrastructure has to be additionally incurred, Times of India adds.
Dairies and cattle-rearers are facing a problem. While on the one hand they are unable to bear the growing expenses of fodder, on the other, they also cannot sell their cattle due to the prevailing beef ban law and restriction. Various gau-raksha samitis (cow protection committees) have refused to accommodate animals, including cows, brought in by farmers because they are already finding it hard to maintain the animals presently with them, Indian media report.
Meanwhile, the strict monitoring along the border over cattle smuggling has contributed to high price of beef in Bangladesh market and put the leather industry in a crisis.
The hit to GDP from India`s policies is not yet known. But HT Imam, a political adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, says recently that there is absolutely no doubt that the beef trade and leather industry are suffering.
Syed Hasan Habib of Bengal Meat, Bangladesh`s top beef exporter, says it had to cut international orders by 75 percent. The company exports 125 tonnes of beef a year to Gulf countries. He says the price of cows has gone up by 40 percent over the past six months because of India`s move, and they have been forced to close two processing units.
Habib plans to import cows from Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar to meet domestic demand, but he says Indian cows have better quality meat and raw hide.
Bangladesh Tanners Association President Shaheen Ahmed says 30 of 190 tanneries have suspended work due to lack of hides, and about 4,000 workers are jobless.
Sources said there as an estimated demand of around 70 lakh cattle in the country during the just ended Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest festival of Muslims.
According to the department of livestock services, there were some 60 lakh healthy cattle including buffaloes in the country, against the demand of an estimated 70 lakh on the occasion of Eid.
Fisheries and Livestock Minister Muhammed Sayedul Hoque recently said there would be no crisis of the sacrificial animal in the cattle markets as there were 69,00,000 goats available in the dairy farms in the country.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said there would be no crisis of sacrificial animals ahead of Eid-ul-Azha even if Indian cattle are not imported, as there is an ample stock of animals in the country.
It was learnt that despite the restriction from the India government, thousands of cattle entered Bangladesh through different places, crossing the Bangladesh-India border ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. Traders were bringing more cattle than last year through different points along the border in the northern districts.
Traders werealso bringing cattle through different points along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. Some 300-400 cows and buffaloes were entering Bangladesh through Teknaf every day.
Countrys experts opine that the local demand for animals can be met with local bovines. Many believed that there would not be any major crisis even if Indian cows did not make it to the market this time. This view was proved nearly correct after the celebration of Eid ul-Azha as most of the seekers of sacrificial animals could lay their hands on locally bred cows before the event was over. However, a more complete picture on this will emerge after some days in the wake of fuller stock tacking.
Director General of the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) Ajay Kumar Roy opines the India move to stop cattle smuggling a blessing for Bangladesh as it has created an opportunity for Bangladesh to revamp the domestic livestock market. Local farmers have already started giving more concentration on domestic production. Though the overall situation has led to a sharp meat price hike in the domestic market, Bangladesh will be benefited in the long run as cattle farmers are now encouraged to go for a large scale cattle farming, he says.
Bangladesh can meet its demand for beef locally provided the government takes up short-medium and long- term policies, says Md Ashraf Ali.
Bangladesh Meat Business Association Secretary General Rabiul Alam says Bangladesh can locally meet demand for cattle if commercial production of cattle is encouraged.
He says cow herds incur losses during Eid-ul Azha as Indian cattle enter the country during that time through legal and illegal channels.
He says as Bangladesh is a small country the government should put emphasis on rearing improved variety of cattle.
Dr Muazzem Hossain, Additional Research Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue, says the percentage of cattle production can be increased if proper steps are taken.
A price spike of cattle will boost animal rearing locally. It will have a positive impact in the long term, says Prof MA Sattar Mandal, former vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU).
Finally, it can be said the livestock sector is important in Bangladesh, especially from the perspectives of crop production, food and nutrition security, poverty reduction and employment generation.
The livestock sub-sector offers important employment and livelihood opportunities particularly for the rural poor, including the functionally landless, many of whom regard livestock as a main livelihood option.
Leather and wool of animal are used as raw material in the industry. Our meat processing and leather industries are completely dependent on animal meat and leather.
Luxurious things are made in handicraft using bone, horn, teeth and hoof of the animal. Animal dung is also used in agricultural land as organic fertilizer.
The number of cattle in Bangladesh has already increased due to various initiatives taken by the government and private entrepreneurs. The per hectare density of cattle head in Bangladesh is higher than any other country in the world.
It is possible to increase the number of cattle production in the country remarkably, if more pragmatic steps are taken with proper policy supports.
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