Eid-ul-Fitr passed only a little while ago, and now Eid-ul-Azha has come. The Muslim religious festival will be celebrated on Sunday (10 July).

For the past two years Eid-ul-Azha could not be properly observed in Kolkata because of coronavirus. With the situation somewhat normal this year, traders at the cattle and goat markets had hoped for brisk business.

But high prices have left buyers in despair and worried. Bariul Molla, a cattle seller at Rajabazar, said that on the one hand cattle were going from Kolkata to Bangladesh, and on the other hand the cattle that came every year from Punjab, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh had not come in the same numbers. With supply short of demand, prices were much higher.

People crowded the market at Mominpur, but cattle trader Sheikh Imroz said prices were much higher than before, so many could not buy.

The goat market, by contrast, is still somewhat within people's reach. Amin Molla said people were coming, looking and choosing, but many backed off on hearing the price. Aslam Khan said many came to buy good-breed cattle, but buyers were left glum by how much prices had risen.

Anisur Rahman, who came to buy a cow, said: "I came with high hopes but am being forced to go back empty-handed. Just two years ago cattle prices were within reach, but this time they have almost doubled."

Although things are gradually returning to normal after coronavirus, no one has been able to control cattle prices, and everyone is doing business as they please this year.

The situation is the same almost everywhere in West Bengal, leaving everyone worried about how they will buy cattle.

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