The cattle market at Jatrapur in Kurigram Sadar is a traditional one. Every year at Qurbani, farmers from at least 10 unions in four of the district's upazilas come here to sell livestock. This year, with grazing land and straw submerged and destroyed by floods, large numbers of cattle are coming to the market, but farmers are in trouble because buyers are few by comparison.

This was the picture on a visit to the traditional Jatrapur cattle market in the district's Sadar upazila on Tuesday (5 July).

Traders at the Jatrapur market said farmers from about 50 low-lying and char areas in at least ten unions of Sadar, Nageshwari, Bhurungamari and Ulipur upazilas buy and sell sacrificial animals at the market. This year's floods submerged and destroyed grazing land and straw in the basins of the Brahmaputra, Dudhkumar and Dharla rivers, causing an acute fodder crisis. As a result many farmers in these areas are being forced to bring their livestock to the Jatrapur Qurbani market to sell. With so many animals arriving and comparatively few buyers, farmers are in trouble.

Sellers are asking Tk 1.5 lakh to Tk 2 lakh for big cattle, and Tk 65,000 to 70,000 for cattle weighing 90 to 100 kg. But the traditional Qurbani market is not picking up because of the shortage of buyers.

Tojibor Mia of Narayanpur union in Nageshwari, who came to sell cattle, said: "The floods submerged the grass and straw and there is a fodder crisis. I also want to repair my flood-damaged house with the money from selling the cattle. But I came to the market last Saturday and spent the whole day without being able to sell, because there were no buyers. Today too the whole day is passing and still no buyers."

Aminur Rahman, who came from Jhunkarchar to sell cattle at Jatrapur, said: "Because of the severe flooding, many more cattle have come to the market this time. I've brought two cattle. There are no wholesale buyers (paikar), and nobody is making an offer."

Jatrapur market lessee Selim Mia said many cattle were coming from various char areas but far fewer buyers. "With the market still not picking up, I'm worried. Farmers are also in trouble because of the shortage of buyers," he said.

Jatrapur UP chairman Abdul Gafur said farmers from at least 10 unions in four upazilas trade livestock at the Jatrapur market. "Because of the floods, many more animals have come to the market this time. The market price is good too, but farmers are in trouble because comparatively few buyers are coming," he said.

Kurigram livestock officer Abdul Hai Sarkar said the district has about 1,070 farms with more than 9 lakh cattle. For the coming Eid-ul-Azha, 1 lakh 34 thousand animals are ready, against local demand of about 90,000; the rest will go to different parts of the country.

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