SWABI: The prices of sacrificial animals have increased significantly in Swabi district as the purchasing process gained momentum in the local market ahead of Eidul Azha.

Cattle traders said that the business would remain at its peak in the ongoing week because only a few people opted to buy animals in the last two or three days. They said that they brought the cattle from Punjab about two weeks ago and now their only job was to sell them.

However, they said that it was difficult for some people, especially the public sector employees, to keep animals for a long time and majority of them preferred to purchase them just a few days ahead of Eid.

“Usually, we sell six to 10 animals a day when only one week is left for Eid,” said a trader, adding that the peak purchasing days had started.

Safdar Khan, a cattle trader, said that they usually brought sacrificial animals from Layya, Bhakkar, Khushab, Sargodha and Chakwal. “If my 14 buffaloes are sold in the next five days I may go for another trip to Punjab,” he said.

Another cattle trader said that each year he earned about Rs200,000 profit during the week before Eidul Azha. “This time I expect even more,” he said.

Both the sellers and buyers cited two reasons for increase in the prices of sacrificial animals, saying that a large number of livestock had perished in recent floods in the Punjab districts from where they would purchase the animals. They said that another reason was the continued unchecked smuggling of cattle to Afghanistan.

“If animal smuggling to Afghanistan was stopped we would not witness so much hike in the prices,” said Qaisar Khan of Maneri Bala.

A visit to the local markets revealed that a goat which was sold at Rs20,000 last year could hardly be acquired at Rs30,000 this time. Abbas Ali Khan of Topi said that two months ago when he was selling his buffalo at Rs43,000 no one was ready to come forward, but now he had got an offer of Rs60,000 for the same animal.

Meanwhile, a district administration official said that cattle fairs would be arranged to provide an opportunity to the people to purchase animals of their choice. “The fairs would be held in different regions,” he said, adding that no one could arrange a fair without permission of the administration.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2015

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