Livestock prices soar in KP as Eidul Azha nears
PESHAWAR (APP): With less than a week left in Eidul Azha celebrations, the people have started arriving in cattle markets in Khyber Pakthunkhwa to buy sacrificial animals a per their budget amid soaring prices this year.
All main cattle markets in Peshawar and Nowshera including Lala Kalay, Charsadda Road, Hayatabad Ring Road, Aman Ghar, Risalpur and Pabbi are flooded with livestock animals including oxen, buffalos, sheep, goats and camel where dealers and buyers were seen engaged in hectic bargaining on Thursday.
While cleaning his perspiration with a white handkerchief at Lala Kalay cattle market amid sizzling heat, Fayaz Khan (65), a former PST teacher was seen engaged in hectic arguments with cattle traders one after another hoping to buy a small sacrificial animal at reasonable price to commemorate the supreme sacrifices of Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) and Hazrat Ismail (AS).
Bargaining with local and inter-provincial cattle traders at Peshawar’s largest Lala Qala cattle market in the outskirts of city flooded with sacrificial animals, Fayaz Khan accompanied by his son was seen using his argument skills besides making determined efforts to convince the cattle dealers after they declined his Rs. 70,000 offer for a Chitrali sheep.
“For the last three days, I am coming from Nowshera district with a hope to buy a goat or a sheep at a reasonable price to avoid last days rush ahead of Eidul Azha but prices were sky high this year compared to last year and are beyond of my purchasing power,” he said while negotiating with cattle dealers of Kohistan and Chitral districts. “I am now seriously thinking of participating in ‘collective qurbani” with my neighbours.”
The senior citizen was cleaning perspiration from his face and hands with his long white handkerchief on his head while his son was drinking water to avoid heatstroke. Fayaz said that he will come on eve of Eidul Azha with the hope that prices of sacrificial animals, especially small ones would come down and many pensioners like him would be able to purchase his choice animal to fulfill religious obligation this year.
Besides skyrocketing prices, he said that poor sanitation and waste management besides unavailability of shelter shades and cold water at cattle markets exposed hundreds of thousands of buyers and dealers to heatstroke in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Fayaz and other buyers demanded the KP government to deploy veterinary staff including DVM doctors at cattle markets for spot treatment in case of an ailing animal besides regulating prices of sacrificial animals and ensuring presence of price magistrates and livestock officials in cattle markets for mointoring.
Like Fayaz, many government officials, pensioners, NGOs and private organizations employees were being seen at cattle markets set up at Lala Kala, Ring Road, Hazar Khwani, Hayatabad and Charsadda Road in Peshawar, Amangarh, Akora Khattak, Risalpur and Pabbi Nowshera district where sacrificial animals are pouring in from Punjab and Sindh provinces to lucrative markets of Khyber Pakthunkhwa.
On Thursday, a market survey conducted by APP revealed that these days the visitors were more in number than buyers as most of them came to the cattle markets to have an idea about the prices and returned empty handed.
However, the traders are expecting an increase in sale when Eidul Azha approaches nearer and hoped that all their stock would be sold out as per their price demand.
“I have sold only 20 goats out of the available 80 and 15 sheep out of 50 with me. The buyers, mostly the Govt employees, pensioners and local dealers, come to cattle markets in morning and evening to take an idea about the prices and then most of them return empty handed due to scorching heat and high prices,” said Mosa Ali, an Nowshera’s based cattle trader while talking to APP at Ring Road cattle market.
He said trade of sacrificial animals was gradually picking momentum in Peshawar and Nowshera where people with less income take interest in large animals for collective ‘Qurbani.’
Another dealer Sohail Khan said that people take interest in animals transported from Punjab due to their better health and size. Brought six trucks having buffaloes and oxen from Sahiwal Punjab to Nowshera and Peshawar, he said that only 15 animals were sold till Thursday, adding increase of transportation and fodder charges increased prices of sacrificial animals manifolds in Peshawar.
Sohail said the dealers suffer great economic losses in case of death of an animal due to heatstroke or lumpy skin disease and demanded shelters and cold water besides fodder in cattle markets.
In the wake of scorching heat, he said that small and large enterprises specialising in the sale of sacrificial animals and related services, have entered the digital market space as customers opt to minimize the risk of heatstroke by purchasing sacrificial animals online. He said online businesses have adversely affected sale and purchase of animals in cattle markets in KP.
“I have opted for the purchase of a Kohistani goat from a firm online to avoid sizzling heat in cattle markets,” said Naveed Khan, a lecturer. He said although prices of online animals are high, nothing is more precious than a person’s health.
Apart from domestic traders of KP and Punjab, inter-provincial businessmen of Sindh and Blochistan have also brought their stock to Peshawar from where sacrificial animals were being transported to the seven merged tribal districts for high profits.
“I refused an offer of Rs 200,000 for my ‘Kohistani Raja ’ goat” dealer Mosa Ali said and added that any offer less than Rs. 250,000 would not be accepted. Dr Abbas Khan, Project Director Save the Calf, Livestock Department said that thousands of calves have been fattened under the said project to provide quality meat to people on Eidul Azha.
He said KP has no viable choice but to import cattle from Punjab to ensure availability of sacrificial animals at reasonable rates to the people, adding that around 70 percent cattle are being brought from Punjab for Eidul Azha.
According to estimates shared by Pakistani tanners, over six million animals, including goats, sheep, cows and camels, worth about Rs531 billion had been sacrificed during the three-day Eid Al-Adha festival last year.
Approximately 6.1 million slaughtered animals include 2.6 million cows, 3 million goats, 350,000 sheep, 150,000 buffalos and 87,000 camels in Pakistan on Eid Al-Adha, as per preliminary data compiled by the Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) on the basis of hides received by tanneries last year.
Dr Abbas Khan said that several checkpoints were established with the assistance of the provincial government at various places on highways connecting KP with merged areas to control the menace of cattle smuggling.
In case of illness of any animal, he urged people to isolate it and inform Livestock officials forthwith for its treatment. Dr Abbas said the DVM doctors were assigned tasks to visit cattle markets and ensure that animals with symptoms of lumpy skin disease may be isolated and treated on the spot.
He advised people and traders to immediately contact DVM doctors of the Livestock Department in their districts in case of illness of their animals to ensure prompt treatment to them.
