Importing lamb and sheep
Tuesday, 21 April 2015
Bangladesh is a democratic country where the people's representatives are supposed to make an environment for economic well-being of the people, most of whom are poor. It is true that the percentage of ultra-poor has been declining over the years. During last 44 years, substantial progress in this respect has been achieved but a lot more is required to be done.
It is necessary to take up a series of measures to enhance economic status of the poor. For example, the government can undertake a five-year project to set up a sheep rearing farm in each union of the country. One family may be chosen from each union which has a small house but no land for cultivation. During the five years of project period, two lambs are to be given each year by government to each family free of cost for rearing. That is, in five years each selected family will get 10 lambs. The family will learn how to make a small sheep farm within five years. As Bangladesh has 4,500 Unions, 4,500 poor families will be owners of small sheep farms in this way. Relatively poorer areas may be selected as priority areas for sheep rearing projects. Other parts of the country may be included later in phases. The project if implemented will generate income to the family and it will help them come out of poverty.
Australia exports lambs and sheep to other countries. Our government can import lambs from Australia and distribute the same among the selected poor families free of cost under the project. It will also increase supply of protein in the country.
Especially on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha, affluent people procure sacrificial animals like sheep, cow, goats etc. from the market for qurbani. Availability of sacrificial animals will be a great problem during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha festival as inflow of cattle from India is likely to be much less this year because of possible restrictions imposed by its government. In this backdrop, the government needs to undertake a project on an urgent basis for import of at least two million lambs and sheep.
Md. Ashraf Hossain
mah120cb@yahoo.com