With only two days left for Eid-ul-Azha, cattle markets in Barisal have started being crowded from Saturday afternoon and prices of sacrificial animals are up by 15-20 per cent this year.
Extortion, high cost of transport and fodder have been blamed for this price hike.
While visiting different legal and illegal cattle markets in the city and surrounding areas, it has been seen that there is an ample supply of cattle, oxen and goats but the sales are yet to reach its peak this year.
Rashid Howladar, a cattle trader at Port Road cattle market, on Saturday said many customers were at the market but they were more into comparing prices than buying.
Buyers on Saturday said they would rather try the market again on Tuesday and early Wednesday.
Preserving animals for long-time and managing fodder for those would become trouble-some in the city due to shortage of space and manpower.
‘I prefer purchasing sacrifice-animal at the last time, when price will be cheaper,’ said Mehedi Hasan, a city dweller.
Five cattle markets including 3 permanent at Rupatali, Baghia and Port Road and 2 makeshift at Kalijira and Kawnia area were approved by the Barisal City Corporation and at least 17 illegal cattle markets in different areas of the city were also on.
In the district twenty cattle markets including Kosba, Boalia, Mohonganj, Kagashura, Guachitra areas were also getting momentum.
A trader of Kushtia, Abdul Huq, alleged that he had to pay the mediators of the traffic police and local hoodlums Tk 1000 as extortion to pass a transport carrying ten cattle.
Mahmud Hossain, an expatriate who was visiting Baghia cattle market of the city, said the traders demanded Tk 75 thousand for a medium-sized bull, adding that he had purchased same sized one with only Tk 60 thousand last year.
Kawsar Hossain, who brought eight medium size cows from Kushtia for sale, said the price of husk per sack had increased from Tk 900-1000 in 2006 to Tk 2500-3000 this year.
Farmers were reluctant to rear or fatten cows and goats for Eid-ul-Azha due to price hike of fodder, said Abdul Huq, a cattle trader of village Paikpara under Kumarkhali upazila in Kushtia.
Mentioning high transport cost as a reason for price hike, trader Solaiman said he brought 17 cows from Kushtia by a truck spending additional Tk 20 thousand as carrying charge.
Deputy inspector general of Barisal range police Dr. Abdur Rahim and commissioner of Barisal Metropolitan police Shamsuddin Ahmed said they had accelerated patrolling at different entrance points and on the roads and highways to capture the extortionists, muggers, pickpockets and installed fake currency detection booths in legal cattle markets from Friday at the markets.
-With New Age input
