RAJSHAHI, May 9, 2024 (BSS)- As a result of house-to-house cattle and goat
farming practices everywhere, the district has become home of surplus
sacrificial animals counting to around 1.65 lakh in the district compared to
its demand.

Local animal husbandry sector has marked a revolutionary boost in recent
years following massive steps taken by the government and different
development organisations.
 
Both rural and urban areas, the poor and marginalised people including women
have achieved tremendous successes in the sector getting various assistance
from the government and development partners.
 
Artificial insemination of cows is gaining popularity in the region following
significant achievement in improving the breeding system.

Tareque Islam, 45, a farmer of Paba upazila, has been fattening eight
buffaloes for around seven months aimed at selling those in the upcoming
sacrificial animal markets.
 
Due to the cross breeding, the cows are giving milk 10 times more than the
previous record, said Arafat Hossain, a successful dairy farmer in the city.
 
He said the producers have adopted new and improved practices and
technologies in bull rearing and fattening contributing to enhanced
production and productivity.
 
The size of the market has expanded due to the growing active role of large
and small-scale private companies.
 
Line Agencies have become proactive towards supporting market actors
especially Local Service Providers by dint of their complementary roles in
extension services.
 
In practice, the LSPs provide training, advice and input to the producers and
earn on an average Taka 4,500 per month. Routinely, they extend different
modern technology to the producers through setting demonstration plots in the
locality.
 
Besides, they organise community meetings with the help of private companies
for building awareness about quality inputs.
 

Service contracts were established to provide regular necessary services and
inputs to the farmers.
 
Dr Abdul Hai Sarkar, divisional director of Department of Livestock Services,
told BSS that the region needs around two lakh animals to meet up the demand
of sacrifice but it has around three and a half lakh animals eligible for the
purpose.
 
Professor Jalal Uddin Sarder from the Department of Veterinary and Animal
Sciences in Rajshahi University said that the venture promotes various value-
addition activities of bull fattening which reflected a sustainable economic
change of the poorest people particularly women.
 
Many of the rural families have been rearing and fattening bulls commercially
and earning huge profits every year. In the wake of expansion of modern
technology, the animal husbandry sector is flourishing in the areas boosting
the local economy that reduces import of sacrificial animals from India, he
added.
 
Meanwhile, necessary preparations for selling and buying of sacrificial
animals are being progressed in full-swing at present in the local cattle
markets.
 
Importance has been given on selling and buying of animals through following
social distancing and other safety guidelines on behalf of the local
administration and the department of livestock.
 
This time, the government has a restriction on import of animals from the
neighbouring country, Dr Jalal Sarder added.
 
On the other hand, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has intensified vigilance
against cattle smuggling along the Rajshahi frontiers to avert any sort of
intrusion of cattle heads from the neighbouring country.

The BGB has increased patrolling in the bordering area to prevent smuggling
of cattle.

In the previous year, hundred percent domestic animals were sacrificed
everywhere in the Rajshahi division. Around 22.14 lakh animals, most of those
are goats, were sacrificed in all eight districts under the Rajshahi
division.
 
The people sacrificed 7.11 lakh cattle heads, 9,469 buffaloes, 12.31 lakh
goats and 1.81 lakh lambs.