With Eid-ul-Azha approaching, crowds of buyers and visitors are growing at Chandpur's sacrificial animal markets. Meanwhile two huge bulls from the district's Shahrasti upazila, called "Jora King" (the King Pair), have become the subject of wide talk and interest.

Md Sakhawat Hossain, owner of Shahrasti Agro Farm in Darunkara village of Shahrasti upazila, bought the two bulls about a year ago and began raising them for Eid. One weighs about 22 maunds and the other about 20 maunds.

Because of their huge size, attractive build and good health, local people, buyers from various areas and curious visitors crowd to the farm every day to see them.

The farm owner says the two bulls were raised entirely naturally, without harmful drugs or fattening injections. The asking price for Jora King is about Tk 13 lakh. "I raised the two bulls with a lot of care and love," Sakhawat Hossain said. "They were raised on local feed in a natural environment. I hope they will sell at a good price."

With Eid approaching, the movement of buyers and sellers has also begun to pick up at Chandpur's traditional Safarmali animal market, where preparations and haggling go on from morning till night. Although trade has not fully picked up with some days still left before Eid, farmers and traders say the market has come back to life.

According to the district livestock office, 27,346 bulls, 8,366 oxen, 10,571 cows, 23 buffalo, 19,346 goats and 446 sheep are ready for sacrifice in the district.

Cattle trader Kala Chokdar said buyers and sales would rise as Eid drew nearer. But with prices of animal feed, bran, straw and medicine up, production costs have risen too, and farmers will face losses if they do not get fair prices. High feed prices are one of the main reasons animal prices are higher than last year, he said, but there are enough cattle at the market and no fear of a shortage.

Abdul Barek, a resident of the town's New Truck Road area, said many families in the town now want to buy cattle from local farmers. "For more than a dozen years we have been sacrificing cattle from local farms. There are often worries about traders' cattle, because in some cases drugs are used to fatten them."

Ayaz Khan, director of the Safarmali market, said Safarmali is a historic market in Chandpur that has been run with a good reputation for the past 40 years. The Eid market picks up here first in the district, and people come from far away to buy animals. This year too the market has picked up early, and he hopes trade will be in full swing soon.

Chandpur district livestock officer Jyotimoy Bhowmik said the district's demand for sacrificial animals this Eid-ul-Azha had been set at 75,248, against which there is currently a shortfall of about 9,148 animals. That gap will be filled when seasonal traders bring animals from other areas, he said.

He added that there are enough local animals on the district's farms and the livestock department continues to monitor the markets to ensure a supply of safe and healthy animals.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.