Only a few days remain before Eid-ul-Azha, but sales of sacrificial animals have yet to pick up in Rajshahi. Sellers and lessees hope the markets will get busy within a day or two. According to the district livestock office, Rajshahi will again have a surplus of sacrificial animals this year, and its cattle and goats will meet the needs of other districts as well as its own.

Livestock department figures show 4,66,196 animals ready in Rajshahi this year for Eid-ul-Azha, including 83,365 cattle, 3,769 buffalo and 3,42,753 goats. They have been raised in homes as well as on farms.

Ten large animal markets operate in Rajshahi, including the City Hat in the city, Nowhata and Katakhali just outside it, Mohishalbari and Kakonhat in Godagari, Mochmoil in Bagmara, Kesharhat in Mohanpur and Baneshwar in Puthia. The City Hat is one of the largest animal markets in the north-west.

Trader Mukul Hossain came to the City Hat to sell cattle from the Sonaichandi market area of Chapainawabganj. "A cow I bought for Tk 1.5 lakh draws an offer of Tk 1 lakh 20 thousand when I try to sell it. That's a loss of Tk 20,000–30,000 per animal," he told Jagonews24.

"I entered the market at 10am with six cattle. Until 4:30pm there were no sales. There are no buyers at the market, only sellers. A lot of cattle have come in," he added.

Saidul Islam, a cattle seller from Bidirpur in Nowhata, said: "The cattle market is very low this year (prices are low). There are too many cattle. For a Tk 1.5 lakh cow they offer Tk 1 lakh, or Tk 1 lakh 15–20 thousand."

Zaman, a cattle trader from Tanore, brought three cattle to the market and has sold two. "The cattle market is very bad this time; it's all loss. There is only one reason for low prices: too many cattle. This is the situation at the start of the market, and I don't think prices will rise," he said.

Atiqur Rahman, lessee of the Rajshahi City Hat, said that with farms everywhere, people are becoming less inclined to buy cattle at markets.

He said sales had more or less started and cattle prices were good, but people were buying more cattle outside the markets. He did not think the markets would get much busier before Eid.

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