A Supreme Court lawyer has sent the Bangladesh government a legal notice demanding that it lift the ban on commercial imports of live cattle and packaged halal beef, so that the price of beef can be brought down to Tk 250 a kilo. Md Mahmudul Hasan Mamun sent the notice in the public interest on Sunday, 11 October.
It is addressed to the cabinet secretary, the secretaries of commerce and of fisheries and livestock, the director general of the Department of Livestock Services, the chairman of the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission and the chairman of the National Board of Revenue.
Beef now sells at Tk 780 to Tk 850 a kilo, the notice says, putting it beyond poor, low-income and fixed-income families and threatening children's intake of animal protein.
On costs, the notice argues that a shortage of grazing land, the price of feed and the overall cost of keeping cattle are pushing up the cost of producing meat in Bangladesh, while countries with large natural pastures and big herds produce cattle and beef more cheaply. Allowing imports from them would add competition to the market, it claims.
Citing the theory of comparative advantage, it points to Bangladesh's garment exports: the United States and Europe buy clothing from Bangladesh because making it at home costs more. With imports allowed and duties rationalised, the lawyer argues, beef could be sold for Tk 250 a kilo or less.
Invoking articles 15(a), 18(1) and 32 of the constitution on food, nutrition and the right to life, the notice asks the government to act within 15 days to lift the ban on live cattle and internationally certified halal frozen or chilled beef and to rationalise import duties. Otherwise, it says, a public interest writ petition will be filed in the High Court.
The demands and the price estimate are the lawyer's own; the report carries no response from the government or the livestock sector.
Photo: Wasiul Bahar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Bangladesh Times
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