As livestock, especially cattle cannot be imported from India, farmers in the country are now more inclined to livestock fattening farming with the demand growing ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha.

According to the Department of Livestock Services, the country had seen 12 times more livestock fattening farms this time around.

People concerned with the sector said farmers fattened livestock beside female cows for dairy farms before 2015 but as there has been no cattle import over the past 5-7 years farmers are now more enthusiastic about livestock fattening farms with the demand of meat rising.

According to the Department of Livestock Services, the country had no record of cattle fattening farms till the FY2018-19. Since independence only 49 such farms had been in commercial production in the country until the FY2018-19.

Most of those farms were set up after 2015. At present the number of such farms is 587 meaning the number has rose by 538 or twelve times.

Of them, 52 livestock fattening farms hit the market in the FY2019-20, 186 the next year and 300 in the current fiscal year.

Some officials of the department say a farmer needs at least 10 livestock for the registration. The registered farms receive project assistance, training facilities and assistance from banks.

However, there are also many small and big farms apart from the registered livestock fattening farms. Mainly they take the initiatives eyeing the Eid-ul-Azha.

The department said it had trained up 85, 000 farmers under the livestock fattening farm project so that they could fatten them by applying modern technology over the past three years.

As per the data of the Bangladesh Dairy Farmers Association the number of the farms having at least 10 cows ranges from 56 to 57 thousands in the country.

They, however, said there are 10-12 lakh farmers in the country. Of them, there are also marginalized farmers who have only two cows.

Of the farmers, 60-65 per cent is involved in livestock fattening while the other do it for milk.

Zeenat Sultana, Deputy Director of the Department of Livestock Services, told The Business Post that farmers usually raise cows and buffaloes in the country. But the number of registered farms has been rising in the country for the past few years.

A few years back when imports of cows stopped creating crisis ahead of Eid the government, after that, began to help farmers in livestock fattening projects.

The training is given under a separate project. The government is also working to help them get loan after their registration and bring them under vaccination programme. This is helping increase the number of the farms in the country, she said.

Farmers said if there is demand in the market they can gain at least 10 per cent profit. It takes six months at least to fatten an animal and for which they have to spend Tk30, 000-40, 000. A domestic cow bought for Tk60, 000-70, 000 can be sold for at least Tk1, 20, 000.

According to the Livestock Economy of the government, the FY2020-21 saw 1.45 lakh livestock more than the previous year taking the total number to 2 crore 45 lakh and 45 thousand. Five years back the number was a bit more than 2 crore 39 lakh.

Bangladesh Dairy Farmers Association General Secretary Imran Ahmed told The Business Post that if bringing cows from India is stopped the demand for domestic cow increases and farmers also get fair prices.

It again can inspire some unemployed youths and those who are yet to get a good job to take up the venture, he said.

He, however, thinks that this year the farmers are in deep crisis as growth in this sector has declined in the past two years because of corona pandemic.

And again this year prices of essentials have also gone up throwing a big challenge for them.