Jashore’s largest Satmile Haat sees poor sale

The pandemic has badly affected the sale of cows at Satmile Haat, the largest cattle market in Jashore, although there is huge supply of cattle.

The haat is located some 36 km southwest of the district. Cattle traders from different parts of the country come here to buy cows ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, a festival marked by sacrifice of animals, and take the cattle to different haats for sale.

Local cattle farmers are worried because of the thin presence of buyers at the haat. The farmers have to return home disappointed as they are not getting buyers despite waiting in the market for all day long.

Meanwhile, cattle supply from India has also been restricted this time, said locals.

The farmers said it is found huge supply of cattle but the sale at the market has dropped drastically this year. It happened as people avoided to buy cattle at the haat fearing the spread of coronavirus infection. 

Nazmul Hasan, the lessee of Satmile Haat, said traders from different districts including Kushtia, Faridpur, Sirajganj, Tangail, Chapainawabganj, Jhenaidah, Rajshahi, Chattogram and Dhaka come to the market to buy cattle in Eid.

Although Eid-ul-Azha is only two days away, the cattle market, which usually becomes busy two weeks before the festival, sees very little sale this time due to coronavirus outbreak, he added.    

The local farmers brought the cows to the market but could not sell them due to thin presence of buyers, said Nazmul.

During a visit to the cattle market, this correspondent saw that farmers have brought large number of sacrificial animals to the haat, but there is very little sale.

Anisur Rahman, a farmer from Narayanpur village in Benapole, said he cannot sell his five cows as prices have gone down alarmingly at Satmile Haat. He then returned home disappointed. 

Another cattle farmer Akhtaruzzaman of Sharsah upazila said he brought 15 cows to the market last year and sold each of them for Tk 60,000, but this year the same small size cow was sold at Tk 45,000 each.

He incurred a huge loss this time due to thin presence of buyers at the market, said Akhtaruzzaman.

Kamal Hossain, a buyer from Benapole, said there is huge supply of cattle in the market but the cattle farmers are not ready to reduce the prices of the animals. That's why, the market is witnessing small sale.

Local union parishad chairman Elias Kabir Bakul, also the president of the cattle market committee, said disinfectant is being sprayed in the market due to coronavirus outbreak. They have also made arrangement for hand-washing at the haat.

The haat sits two days (Saturday and Tuesday) a week, said Bakul.

Sharsha Upazila Animal Resources Officer Masuma Akhter said this year, around 990 farmers in the upazila raised 3,745 bulls, 602 bullocks and 2,841 goats centering Eid-Ul-Azha.

The sale of the cattle has drastically fallen this year due to thin presence of buyers at the market, said Masuma, adding that it happened because of coronavirus outbreak.

As a result, the cattle farmers are incurring huge losses, said the officer.

Meanwhile, Jhenidah Livestock Department has recently opened an online cattle market ahead of Eid-ul-Azha to prevent Covid-19 spread, reports our correspondent.

They have launched the online haat so that people can buy their sacrificial animals from their home during coronavirus, said Jhenidah Livestock Officer Ananda Kumar Adhikary.

He further said that to buy and sell the sacrificial animals, anyone can login from his Facebook. Videos and photos of cows and its weight and price and the address and mobile numbers of the cattle farmers in different upazilas have been uploaded on the Facebook page of the online haat.

By visiting the page, the buyers can select the cow of their choice and purchase the animal by calling the mobile number given by the farm, he said.

Jhenidah livestock office sources said, there are 60,000 cattle in different farms of six upazilas in the district.

Imran Hossain, a farm owner of Goyashpur village in Sadar upazila, said the sale of sacrificial animals has drastically fallen this year due to coronavirus outbreak.

He has incurred huge loss from the sale of his two cattle this time, said Imran, adding, that a few days ago, each cow was sold at Tk 2.80 lakh while he expected to sell the cows at Tk 5 lakh each.   

If the ordinary people buy their sacrificial animals from this online cattle market, it will be possible to avoid the possibility of Covid-19 infection, said the livestock officer.