The government has instructed the deputy commissioners (DCs) to arrange online cattle markets, taking into consideration the spread of Covid-19 aiming to facilitate cattle sales ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) on Thursday asked the DCs to take necessary steps for arranging such markets in their respective areas. It has also asked them to follow the existing "digital qurbani haat" guidelines prepared by the MoC.
"The operation of cattle market may be risky during the ongoing shutdown announced by the government to stem the spread of Covid-19 across the country," MoC said in its instructions.
Recently, the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh, the Access to Information (a2i) Programme, and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) have launched digital cattle markets as per the directions of the commerce ministry.
The DNCC launched the country's lone digital cattle market on Sunday last with an aim to sell 0.1 million sacrificial animals from nine markets ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest religious festival of the Muslims.
A senior commerce ministry official who is dealing with the issue said DCs have been asked to arrange online cattle markets in their respective administrative areas to facilitate cattle sales.
Last year 27,000 sacrificial animals were sold through the DNCC digital cattle market platform where there were 45 marketplaces. This year the number of marketplaces has been raised to 60. At present, 2,000 farmers are added to the platform. The number of farmers is expected to increase up to 10,000 this year.
An escrow payment system facility including dispute settling arrangements has been added with digitalhat.net so that 'goods money can be deposited in sellers' accounts only after the buyers are satisfied with the desired product, a high official of the MoC said.
The Bangladesh Bank has introduced the escrow payment system, according to the ministry. The ministry thinks that the online cattle markets to be arranged by the DCs would be included under DNCC's digitalhat.net.
Currently, there are 412 million animals in the country. This year 11.9 million sacrificial animals are ready for slaughtering, according to the fisheries and livestock ministry.
The digital cattle market is now getting popularity in different areas of the country. Many district administrations have already got used to digital haat traditions due to the spread of Covid-19 in the country, a source concerned said.
Apart from the government's digital haat, many e-commerce platforms have already taken the move to sell cattle through the digital system, he added.
