With only three days in hand, the online cattle markets in Khulna are gaining momentum ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, the second-largest festival of the Muslims.
The three online markets are 鈥極nline Platform鈥�, 鈥楽ocial Media Platform鈥� and 鈥楪overnment Online Cattle Platform鈥� already sold at least 1,387 sacrificial animals worth Tk 9.09 crore in the city till Monday.
Among them 714 cattle were sold worth Tk 7.96 crore, 3 buffaloes were sold Tk 3.6 lakh, 657 goats were sold Tk 1.07 crore, 13 sheep were sold Tk 2.58 lakh through digital markets.
This year, at least 14.35 lakh sacrificial animals were prepared against 10.47 lakh demand in the division.
Khulna divisional administration in co-operation with the Divisional Livestock Service (DoLS) has started the initiatives of 鈥楪overnment Online Cattle Platform鈥� through a mobile app along with its website while both the Government and Cattle Firm Owners have launched 鈥極nline Platform鈥� and 鈥� Social Media Platform鈥� from May 28.
Talking to BSS on Tuesday, Nurullah Md Ahsan, director of DoLs in Khulna division said 鈥楢 total of 1,387 sacrificial animals worth around Tk 9.09 crore were sold till Monday at digital cattle markets.
Union Online Center is playing a vital role in making this initiative successful. Already a good number of sacrificial animals are registered on this platform with their age, weight and seller鈥檚 contact.
Animals from different upazilas of Khulna district are getting registered every day, he said.
Officials of the Khulna divisional commissioner office told that 鈥楪overnment officials from different upazilas of the district are helping the farmers to register their animals. Till now we are satisfied with the responses.鈥�
Basically, the animals coming to the different cattle markets in 10 districts of the division for sale are being put up on the 鈥極nline Platforms鈥� and all the districts and upazila administrations are helping deliberately to make this process successful,鈥� the officials added.
Convener of the Khulna City Corporation (KCC) cattle market committee and secretary of KCC Sharif Asif Rahman told BSS today, 鈥榃e have not started our online service this year, and Muslim devotees can buy sacrificial animals physically from the Zoraget cattle market.
Sayed Wahid Ahmed, owner of Arbi Agro Farm, in the City鈥檚 Nichkhamar area has been a successful beef fattener for the last couple of years. Ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha, he reared and fattened 11 Ox and is being sold online.
Md Nazrul Islam, a firm owner of Baliakhali of Dumuria upazila said online cattle sales solely rely on confidence and trust, which must be built with utmost sincerity and honesty. The buyers always opt to get animals at their doorsteps without any hassle. This is why the online market has become popular.
Bidhan Chandra Ghosh, an official of Khulna DoLs told BSS that a total of 155 veterinary medical teams have been formed in 169 cattle markets across the division to ensure the health of the sacrificial animals.
