Digital Hut, a seasonal online marketplace facilitating trades of sacrificial animals, fears that its sales may decline by 20 per cent this year as Covid-19 subdued, putting open space cattle markets back in business.
Launched in 2020 during the peak of the coronavirus rampage, Digital Hut quickly gained popularity as a hassle-free online marketplace to purchase and sell sacrificial cattle.
Organisers of the hut this year estimate that only around 50,000 animals will be sold through the digital market, compared to the highest of nearly 4 lakh in a single season.
The projected decrease in sales compared to the previous year is attributed to multiple factors. The organisers anticipate a 20 per cent fall in online sales due to the resumption of free movement and the prevailing market prices of animals in the post-pandemic period.
In its inaugural year, Digital Hut successfully facilitated sales of 27,000 animals through its online platform. The following year, the platform achieved a remarkable milestone by selling 387,000 sacrificial animals, earning it the prestigious Digital Bangladesh Award in 2021.
Even during the low virus infection last year, the platform managed to sell nearly 60,000 animals.
The organisers have announced that expatriate buyers will have the opportunity to purchase sacrificial animals in this year's digital market.
The online sale of sacrificial animals started under the management of the E-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (ECAB) with technical support from the government's Aspire to Innovate (A2I) project's E-Shop. The Directorate of Livestock and local-level cattle suppliers are also connected to the platform.
Mohammad Abdul Waheed Tamal, general secretary of E-CAB, said, "We have engaged about 10,000 farmers in this process over the past three years."
"We have continued this initiative keeping in mind all the farmers, online entrepreneurs and buyers of sacrificial animals."
Rezwanul Haque Jami, team leader of EkShop and head of the Commercial Strategy Department of A2I, said that the digital hut is now connected not only to the original digitalhaat.gov.bd platform but also to the country's leading cattle-selling platforms. Besides, district-level Facebook and web-based animal-selling platforms are integrated into the system.
Asif Ahnaf, the finance secretary of E-CAB, announced that this year's special addition to the digital hut allows expatriate buyers to purchase animals online. However, this opportunity is only available on the original platform digitalhaat.gov.bd and the animal must be located in the buyer's respective district.
Jahangir Alam Shovan, executive director of E-Cab and field-level coordinator of Digital Hut, explained the payment process at Digital Hut.
It involves selecting the animal, determining the price, verifying the buyer and seller and sending an online payment link to the buyer. The buyer will make the payment through the provided link and the seller will deliver the animal to the buyer's address. The entire process will be supervised by the Digital Hut management authority.
Slaughtering services will also be available, but they are subject to reserved space availability and operate on a first-come, first-serve basis. This year, the leading marketplace, Daraz, sponsors the Digital Hut, with Walletmix serving as its gateway partner.
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