Md Joynal Abedin Khan :
The illegal entry of cows in the country from neighbouring countries, mainly India and Myanmar, is going on across the borders causing a serious concern for local farmers who have been raring up sacrificial animals for the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
The smuggling of cows from India, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan is allegedly being done in liaison between the illegal traders and some unscrupulous cop personnel of the concerned countries, sources said.
If the smuggling continued, the farmers feared that they would have to count heavy losses as their expenditure for rearing up cattle will be more than the sale price.
According to Livestock Department, about 1.12 crore sacrificial animals are slaughtered during Eid-ul-Azha every year. Currently, the country has an estimated 1.05 crore cattle, while the stock of cattle was 1.03 crore last year.
Besides, the cattle-fattening drugs are also widely being used in Pabna, Sirajganj, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Jhenidah, Nilphamari, Barisal, Faridpur, Manikganj and some other districts, it is alleged.
Pabna and Sirajganj districts are known for dairy farming and cattle-fattening practices for decades. There are 13,480 dairy farms in Sirajganj alone.
While visiting different villages in Bera, Santhia and Ataikula upazilas of Pabna, and Shahjadpur and Baghabari areas in Sirajganj, our local correspondents found that almost every household was using steroids, antibiotics and other chemicals for months in blatant violation of law. Everyone — from cattle farm owners to landless
farmers — wanted to take full advantage of this.
A study by Bangladesh Agriculture University found 70.6 per cent cattle farmers in Pabna, Mymensingh and Comilla used anabolic steroid as a growth hormone.
Meanwhile, a mobile team led by Executive Magistrate Md Sarwar Alam of the Rapid Action Battalion fined and jailed at least six persons in different terms for stocking banned drugs dexamethasone, cyproheptadine and hydrochloride in the city’s Mohammadpur area on Saturday.
There are some cattle farms in the city’s Mohammadpur area where livestock go through a fattening regime ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. Some farms claim that they fatten cows in a ‘natural’ way but most farms overdose cattle with vitamins and steroids available in the market.
Abdul Daian, a poor farmer from Kalapara village in Sirajganj, bought a bull for Tk 26,000 four months ago. He then planned to fatten it up as much as possible, and make some quick bucks by selling it before the Eid-ul-Azha, Daian’s wife Poli Khatun told The New Nation on Sunday.
Like many of his neighbors, he started feeding the bull ‘small white drugs’, locally known as ‘vitamins’. Soon, the bull gained weight substantially and buyers offered almost double the price he bought it with, she said.
“This year, a total of 99,876 cows are being fattened in Sirajganj,” said a livestock officer.
According to farmers, a domestic cow’s weight increase from 200gm to 300gm in a day while the number US-origine Brahmam cows weight increase 1kg to 1.5Kg.
Md Likhon Mia, owner of a small medicine shop at Baghabari, said he sells 10 to 12 packets of steroid tablets every day.
Shahidur Rahman, manager of a farm at TR-Bandh village in Shahjadpur, admitted that they were using the drugs, but claimed none of those were harmful.
The Animal Feed Act 2010 prohibits the use of antibiotics, growth hormones, steroids or other harmful chemicals in animal feed. For violating this law, a person might face up to one year’s imprisonment or up to Tk 50,000 in fine or both.
“We ask farmers not to use harmful drugs. But some farmers want to fatten their animals faster,” said Dr Humayun Kabir, scientific officer at the BLRI.
“Steroid variants like Decason, Oradexon, Prednisolon, Betnenal, Cortan, Steron and Adam-33 are usually used as life-saving drugs for critical patients. But when fed to cattle, these drugs damage their heart, kidney and liver, and eventually cause death, he said.
“If someone consumes the meat of cattle fattened with such drugs, it will surely have negative impact on his health. It may even cause cancer and kidney failure,” said Abdus Samad, professor at Bangladesh Agricultural University.
The illegal entry of cows in the country from neighbouring countries, mainly India and Myanmar, is going on across the borders causing a serious concern for local farmers who have been raring up sacrificial animals for the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
The smuggling of cows from India, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan is allegedly being done in liaison between the illegal traders and some unscrupulous cop personnel of the concerned countries, sources said.
If the smuggling continued, the farmers feared that they would have to count heavy losses as their expenditure for rearing up cattle will be more than the sale price.
According to Livestock Department, about 1.12 crore sacrificial animals are slaughtered during Eid-ul-Azha every year. Currently, the country has an estimated 1.05 crore cattle, while the stock of cattle was 1.03 crore last year.
Besides, the cattle-fattening drugs are also widely being used in Pabna, Sirajganj, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Jhenidah, Nilphamari, Barisal, Faridpur, Manikganj and some other districts, it is alleged.
Pabna and Sirajganj districts are known for dairy farming and cattle-fattening practices for decades. There are 13,480 dairy farms in Sirajganj alone.
While visiting different villages in Bera, Santhia and Ataikula upazilas of Pabna, and Shahjadpur and Baghabari areas in Sirajganj, our local correspondents found that almost every household was using steroids, antibiotics and other chemicals for months in blatant violation of law. Everyone — from cattle farm owners to landless
farmers — wanted to take full advantage of this.
A study by Bangladesh Agriculture University found 70.6 per cent cattle farmers in Pabna, Mymensingh and Comilla used anabolic steroid as a growth hormone.
Meanwhile, a mobile team led by Executive Magistrate Md Sarwar Alam of the Rapid Action Battalion fined and jailed at least six persons in different terms for stocking banned drugs dexamethasone, cyproheptadine and hydrochloride in the city’s Mohammadpur area on Saturday.
There are some cattle farms in the city’s Mohammadpur area where livestock go through a fattening regime ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. Some farms claim that they fatten cows in a ‘natural’ way but most farms overdose cattle with vitamins and steroids available in the market.
Abdul Daian, a poor farmer from Kalapara village in Sirajganj, bought a bull for Tk 26,000 four months ago. He then planned to fatten it up as much as possible, and make some quick bucks by selling it before the Eid-ul-Azha, Daian’s wife Poli Khatun told The New Nation on Sunday.
Like many of his neighbors, he started feeding the bull ‘small white drugs’, locally known as ‘vitamins’. Soon, the bull gained weight substantially and buyers offered almost double the price he bought it with, she said.
“This year, a total of 99,876 cows are being fattened in Sirajganj,” said a livestock officer.
According to farmers, a domestic cow’s weight increase from 200gm to 300gm in a day while the number US-origine Brahmam cows weight increase 1kg to 1.5Kg.
Md Likhon Mia, owner of a small medicine shop at Baghabari, said he sells 10 to 12 packets of steroid tablets every day.
Shahidur Rahman, manager of a farm at TR-Bandh village in Shahjadpur, admitted that they were using the drugs, but claimed none of those were harmful.
The Animal Feed Act 2010 prohibits the use of antibiotics, growth hormones, steroids or other harmful chemicals in animal feed. For violating this law, a person might face up to one year’s imprisonment or up to Tk 50,000 in fine or both.
“We ask farmers not to use harmful drugs. But some farmers want to fatten their animals faster,” said Dr Humayun Kabir, scientific officer at the BLRI.
“Steroid variants like Decason, Oradexon, Prednisolon, Betnenal, Cortan, Steron and Adam-33 are usually used as life-saving drugs for critical patients. But when fed to cattle, these drugs damage their heart, kidney and liver, and eventually cause death, he said.
“If someone consumes the meat of cattle fattened with such drugs, it will surely have negative impact on his health. It may even cause cancer and kidney failure,” said Abdus Samad, professor at Bangladesh Agricultural University.
