In Chitalmari of Bagerhat, humans instead of cattle are ploughing firming land. As the grazing land in the area have reduced, the number of cattle has also decreased noticeably. As a result, farmers are now forced to phough the lands themselves in place of animals.
Reporting the deplorable condition, victims said that cow feed and straws were being sold at high prices and the straws are being brought from Tungipara and Mollahat upazilas to Chitalmari. In addition, they could not find any way to deal with the crisis of grazing land for cattle. Therefore, they are unable to rear cattle, even though they need them for firming purposes.
Sudhir Roy of Aruaborni Darpara village in Chitalmari Sadar Union, used to bring cows from the Indian border to sell at the local market to meet the demand of plowing animals. Commenting on the land crisis, he said, “As a result of cutting ditches on flat crop lands and creating fish pens, the amount of grazing land as well as the number of cattle are declining”.
Compared to previous times, there are hardly any flat field left in Chitalmari for grazing cattle. Moreover, cattle feeding grass born on the banks of fish pens are also being poisoned. Since the beginning of fish farming in Chitalmari in the nineties of the last century, cattle grazing land has been shrinking and now it has almost vanished.
Locals said that cow-feeding straws are being bought and sold every day near Durgapur field on the side of Chitalmari-Bagerhat main road, at a price, too high for farmers. People of different areas of Chitalmari are involved in the hay business, they added.
Al Amin Sheikh of Aruadihi village in neighboring Mollahat upazila stated that he had been coming to Chitalmari Durgapur Shiva temple for the last three years to trade straw.
He said that each bundle of straw weighing about five to seven pounds is being sold at Tk 1,500 to 7,000. This straw is sold from Bengali month Kartik to Chaitra (October to March). Eight to nine employees work in Al Amin's hay business every day, he added.
According to the Upazila Livestock Office, the number of cows in Chitalmari Upazila is 59,267. An adult cow needs about 10 kg of food per day including dry hay, straw and grass. Due to increasing number of shrimp pens locally known as Gher, the land for cattle grazing has drastically decreased in recent years, the Livstock office sources added.
