According to the government’s Department of Livestock, the number of animals to be sacrificed has increased this time. It has increased so much that the farmers of the country have prepared the number of sacrificial animals for this holy Eid-ul-Azha, never before.

In this situation, goat-sheep and other sacrificial animals have decreased, but the number of cows and buffaloes has increased this time. Compared to last time, the number of cows and buffaloes is 5 lakh 16 thousand more this Eid-ul-Azha. That is, the number of cows and buffaloes has increased by about 11 percent (10.67%), which is the highest increase in seven years.

The concerned persons say that no such special initiative of the Department of Livestock has been seen in the last one year, due to which the number of cows and buffaloes can increase so much. They consider it unusual.

When asked to know, Director General of Animal Resources Department Mohammad Rayazul Haque claimed to Prothom Alo that apart from sacrifices, dependence on small animals like goats has increased in social events. Basically, this trend is seen after Corona. As a result, cows are being sold a little less. Cows remain in surplus. That’s why the number is a little higher. According to him, their account is not unusual.

Why the sudden increase in the number of cows and buffaloes?

Bangladesh Dairy Farmers Association (BDFA), the organization of traders in this sector, is working closely with the Department of Livestock. President of the organization. Imran Hossain recently told reporters after a meeting, ‘Last year 1 crore 25 lakh cattle were stocked. Among them, 1 crore 40 thousand cattle have been sacrificed. After the sacrifice, I saw that the unsold animal was sold as meat in the butcher shop at a very cheap price.’

That is, a large portion of the animals not sold for sacrifice is sold as meat during the rest of the year. As a result, the claim made by the Director General of the Department of Livestock that the animals are being stockpiled as they are unsold does not hold up much.

The Russia-Ukraine war after the corona has increased the price of grain feed for livestock. Farmers still have to feed grain food at higher prices. Besides, ancillary expenses including electricity, labor costs have also increased. As a result, raising sacrificial animals has become very expensive. These issues put farmers’ livestock at risk.

However, the director general of the Department of Livestock claimed, “I have told the farmers that the price of food grains is abnormal. I asked them to come out and feed them grass. Apart from that, the consumption of grain food increases, the quality of meat and milk is also not good. We have been campaigning for three years. I have inspired people.

However, the farmers say that they are feeding grain as before to prepare animals for sacrifice. MA Maksud Russell, the head of Rabiba Agro in Keraniganj, told Prothom Alo that there are about 100 animals that can be sacrificed in his farm. They are still doing the same amount of grass and grain food they used to feed these animals.

Livestock and Dairy Development is the biggest project of the Department of Livestock to increase the production of livestock. Since 2019, this project has been implemented in 61 upazilas of the country at a cost of Tk 4,280 crore. One of its objectives is to increase the productivity of each existing livestock by 20 percent at the farm level by ensuring improved feed and nutrition supply, animal health and artificial insemination management. That is to increase the size of cattle meat.

That is, the government’s emphasis on meat production is more than increasing the number. But it is seen that the number of cows and buffaloes has increased at an unusual rate.

Directorate of Livestock has office at upazila level. The officers and employees of those offices collect information from the field level. The department has determined the number of animals to be sacrificed on the basis of the information provided by them. Recently, the Minister of Animal Resources. Abdur Rahman said, the officers and employees of the Directorate have prepared this account thoroughly by going from house to house and collecting data.

When asked how the number of cows and buffaloes increased, several former and current officials of the Department of Livestock told Prothom Alo that the information sent by the officers and employees of the Department from the upazila level is not always correct. Because, it is difficult to collect such a large amount of data with such a small number of manpower. While it is possible for officials to collect information from large farmers, it is difficult for them to get an accurate account of livestock reared by families. Apart from this, the large number of cattle reared in pastures also does not provide accurate information. As a result, in many cases the information is based on assumptions.

However, the number of goats and sheep has decreased

According to the calculations of the Department of Livestock, the number of animals that can be sacrificed this time is 1 crore 29 lakh 80 thousand 367. All of these are produced by local farmers. Farmers in the country have never produced such a large number of sacrificial animals.

According to the analysis, according to the Department of Livestock, the number of other animals that can be sacrificed, including goats and sheep, has decreased compared to last year. This time the number of goats and sheep that can be sacrificed is 76 lakh 17 thousand 801 which was 76 lakh 90 thousand 80 last year. That is, compared to last year, the number of goats and sheep has decreased by more than 72 thousand. Again the number of other animals like Dumba is 1 thousand 850, which was 2 thousand 581 last year. This means other animals have decreased by seven thousand more than last year.

Concerned persons say that while the country has record production of sacrificial animals, the number of popular animals like goats and sheep is not expected to decrease. Apart from this, according to the top officials of the Animal Husbandry Department, there is no logical reason to reduce the number of small animals like goats and sheep where the demand is increasing compared to the larger ones.

The former Director General of Directorate of Livestock Sheikh Azizur Rahman told Prothom Alo that under the Department’s Livestock and Dairy Development Project, sufficient awareness has been raised on various issues related to cattle rearing. As a result farmers are interested. Again it is true that the Directorate of Animal Husbandry has not taken any such initiative, due to which there will be such an increase. No immediate action was seen in reducing the price of food.