Animal markets across the country have started to get busy ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, but in this monsoon season rain is getting in the way. The sky over Dhaka has been cloudy since Monday (26 June), with light rain in parts of the capital that day, and it has been raining in Dhaka since Tuesday (27 June) morning. Sellers at the markets are suffering and fewer buyers are coming.

At the Aftabnagar and Tejgaon Polytechnic ground markets in the capital, the last two days were expected to be busy, but the rain kept buyers away from the morning. Those who came had to wade through mud to get around. The cattle markets were battered by rain.

After repeated showers, the areas where cattle are kept were a mess of mud and dung. Farmers and traders were busy protecting their cattle from the mud and water. Sand was brought in to raise the ground where cattle stand, and temporary shelters of tarpaulin and polythene were put up over them.

Halim Chowdhury, who came to buy cattle at Aftabnagar, said the rain had caused trouble and he could not look at the cattle properly. "I don't think I'll be able to buy today. The roads are bad too, so it will be hard to take a cow home. I'll have to come back later."

Enamul, who brought cattle from Faridpur, said the main selling was supposed to start today, but the rain since the morning had upset everything. "The market is on today and tomorrow, Wednesday. There's no certainty when the cattle will sell. If the weather stays like this, many cattle will go unsold and we will make a loss."

At the two markets, farmers and wholesalers from Kushtia, Pabna, Meherpur, Madaripur, Faridpur and Natore had brought cattle. Cattle were being kept beyond the grounds in nearby lanes. Many more animals were due to be brought from farms today, but the rain is making transport difficult.

Rahid, a trader from Natore, said cattle were due to come from Natore today but could not be brought because of the rain. "There's no dry place in the market to keep cattle. It's very hard even to look after the ones that are here."

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