Cattle import from Myanmar

SCARCITY of grazing fields is making cattle scarce in Bangladesh. As Bangladesh is a densely populated country, it needs a good number of cattle throughout the year. We have a fairly long border line with Myanmar in the south-eastern part of our country and we are trying to develop our relationship with Myanmar by increasing our import-export trade with the country. Now that we need hundreds of thousands of sacrificial animals such as cow, ox, bull, sheep, goat etc. particularly during occasions like Eid-ul-Azha and as Myanmar has a huge number of this kind of animals to trade off, formal trade between our two countries can be accelerated.
Cattle rearers in Myanmar can find a good market in Bangladesh for their animals. Rural people in Myanmar rear cows mostly for milk. Since ox and bulls do not provide milk, they want to dispose them. But they cannot be sold in Myanmar as the cattle market is very small there. In this situation, formal and easy import of cattle from Myanmar is convenient and it can be an economically win-win situation for both countries.
I would, therefore, like to urge upon the government of Bangladesh to take up the matter with Myanmar and initiate easy import of cattle from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

Md. Ashraf Hossain
8/A, Ramna, Dhaka-1000
[email protected]