Marginal farmers seek extortion-free transportation of sacrificial animals

Staff Reporter :
Marginal farmers have urged the government to take necessary steps for preventing extortion and harassment during transportation of the sacrificial animals ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest festival of the Muslim Community.

They made the call in a view exchange meeting with the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry Secretary Dr Nahid Rashid on the premises of Sadek Agro Farm in the city’s Mohammadpur area on Saturday.

The farmers also demanded imposing strong restriction on import of the sacrificial animals ahead of the festival, reducing the prices of animal feeds and toll-free animal sales from the farms.

Responding to the call, Dr Nahid Rashid said, “Around 1.25 crore animals are readied for sacrifice during the Eid and the number may increase further ahead of the festival. So, there will be no need to import animals this year.”

“For stopping the import, we have already increased monitoring in the border area and also contacting with the Home Ministry and the members of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on a regular basis,” she said.

She further said, “There were 1.21 crore sacrificial animals in the country last year. Of them, 99.50 lakh animals were sacrificed in last year. So, there will be no crisis this time.”

Replying to a query that animals are entering the country in illegal ways, the secretary said, “We are not the responsible ministry to prevent smuggling or oversee the border. So, we are trying to stop it by contacting with the responsible ministry or institutions. Even, we have taken measures to stop import of frozen meets.”

Regarding the extortion and harassment during transportation, Dr Nahid said, “We will give final directions after holding intra-ministries meeting on June 14 to stop unnecessary harassment and extortion during animal transportation.”

She also gave an instant assurance of taking steps for toll-free animal sales from the farms.

Dr Md Emdadul Haque Talukdar, Director General of the Department of Livestock, said that the prices of the animal feeds have already been reduced slightly and their endeavors will continue.

“More two to three months will be needed to bring the price under tolerable level,” he hopped.
Bangladesh Dairy Farmers’ Association President Mohammad Imran also spoke.