Buying and selling cattle and goats online became popular during the coronavirus pandemic, like many other products. In 2020, the first year of the online market Digital Haat, 27,000 animals were sold. In 2021 that rose many times over to about 387,000. This year 463,096 animals have been sold.

According to the control room of the Department of Livestock Services, animals were sold through online platforms in all eight divisions this year, 463,096 in total. Chattogram division sold the most cattle, 84,000, and Dhaka the most goats and sheep, 21,902.

The 463,096 animals sold for Tk 4,231 crore 58 lakh 98 thousand. Photos with prices of 381,420 cattle and 84,054 goats and sheep were uploaded online, from which buyers chose the animals they wanted.

Before sales began this year, the government warned at a high level that buyers would not have to accept an animal that did not match its uploaded photo, and that law enforcement would take the necessary action. Those involved believe this reduced fraud in online animal sales somewhat.

In 2021, during the pandemic, Digital Haat made a big contribution to online sales of sacrificial animals by bringing in cattle sellers listed with the Department of Livestock Services down to district level. Without charging any fee, the platform handled everything from taking orders to processing payments, delivering animals and paying sellers.

Jahangir Alam Shovon, executive director of e-CAB, said less than 2 per cent was charged only as an online payment processing fee. Although it is not a commercial online platform, Digital Haat also sold sacrificial animals online in 2022 in the same way.

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