Abdul Alim :
With only two days to Eid-ul-Azha, city’s cattle markets have still not gained momentum as people are not eager to buy sacrificial animals early. Besides, the price of sacrificial animals in different cattle markets has been observed to be high despite huge supply. Cattle traders said that cattle prices have increased due to shortage of fodder, and increase in price.
Visiting several cattle markets in the capital, the correspondents watched lower prices of this year comparing with the previous years’, while cattle traders said they hardly sold any sacrificial animal.
Traders were seen passing times with their animals rather than showing seriousness to sell those. Most of them prefer to wait until Friday with a hope to get fair prices.
Meanwhile, the law enforcers facing hardship to maintain safety measures in all cattle markets as most of the cattle market is much larger and lot of people are coming there.
Apart from the Zinzira, Aganagor and Shahjahanpur cattle markets the traders are taking position in the market in compliance with the orders and prohibitions of the market authorities and hygiene rules.
None has access to visit market without a mask, using hand sanitizers and hand gloves, said organizers. If there is any problem with the animal, the veterinarians are giving necessary advice.
But the law enforcers ensure hygiene and safety at the entrance of the cattle market. The monitoring team is working to monitor these matters unimportantly.
The same picture was seen while going to the Brothers Union Club and Kamalapur cattle market on Tuesday afternoon.
However, the people started making choice of sacrificial animals for slaughtering.
Buyer Rashim Mollah said, there are still a huge number of cattle available in the Zinzira cattle market. The price may fall, and I’ll buy then.
Moshiur Rahman, a house owner, told the correspondent that traders were asking excessive prices for every bull, as those are in high demand.
“After making choice, I will buy it one day before the Eid-ul-Ahda,” he said.
Meanwhile a buyer was seen leaving Aganagar market with a black bull, weighing over four maunds.
“It cost Tk 1.5 lakh,” he replied.
There are not many customers in the cattle market due to coronavirus fear. Many customers are buying their sacrifice animals on online.
Cattle traders have become worried about the sale of their sacrificial animals this year because of the outbreak of Covid-19 across the country.
They were expecting to sell the sacrificial animals with a good profit, but the coronavirus has changed the situation this year.
A cattle treader, Hasanuzzaman from Kushtia said, every year people start coming to markets at least five days before the Eid. But this year we barely see any customer asking prices of our cows.
Rofiqul Islam brought eight medium to big-sized bulls in Zinzira cattle market in Keraniganj, but could not sell a single one until Tuesday afternoon.
He said, “We hear that the price of cows outside the capital is cheap. If the same thing happens in Dhaka, many traders will not be able to recover their investments.”
