A target of selling 50,000 animals through Digital Haat has been set this year. However, online sales of animals may be 20 per cent lower this time, because of the post-coronavirus situation and animal prices.
The e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) gave this information in a press release on Saturday, 24 June.
It said online sales of sacrificial animals have already begun. The Department of Livestock Services and local markets are linked to Digital Haat.
Expatriates can buy this year
This year expatriates will be able to buy sacrificial animals through Digital Haat. Online sales of sacrificial animals are run by e-CAB with technical support from Ekshop, part of the government's Aspire to Innovate (a2i) programme.
According to the press release, 27,000 animals were sold in 2020, Digital Haat's first year. In 2021, 3.87 lakh sacrificial animals were sold through Digital Haat, and last year, 2022, nearly 60,000 animals were sold on the platform.
e-CAB general secretary Mohammad Abdul Wahed Tomal said: "Over three years we have connected nearly 10,000 farmers to this process. They have sold animals online in various ways, and many have benefited directly."
Rezwanul Haque Jami, team leader of Ekshop and head of a2i's commercial strategy division, said the country's leading cattle sales platforms are linked to it besides digitalhaat.gov.bd.
e-CAB finance secretary Asif Ahnaf said the special addition this year is the opportunity for expatriates to buy animals online. This applies only to purchases from the main platform, digitalhaat.gov.bd, and the animal must be located in the district for which the buyer is purchasing.
How payment works
Jahangir Alam Shovon, e-CAB executive director and field-level coordinator of Digital Haat, explained the payment process: the buyer chooses an animal and agrees the price, then the authorities verify the buyer and seller and send the buyer an online payment link. The buyer pays through that link, and the seller then delivers the animal to the given address. The Digital Haat management authority will oversee the whole process.
A slaughtering service is again available this year, subject to space at the designated slaughtering sites and on a first-come, first-served basis.
Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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