Black Bengal goat, a promising animal for Qurbani in BD

Eid means happiness. In the Islamic calendar, we have two special dates of festivities namely Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha. The word Adha means sacrifice and it’s another meaning is goat, therefore it is also called as Bakrid. Qurbani means sacrifice.   

In the history of Qurbani, Habil was the first human being to sacrifice a sheep while his brother Qabil offered part of the crops of his land as Qurbani. At that time, if the Qurbani was accepted, a fire would descend from the heavens and consume the accepted sacrifice. The sacrifice of Habil was accepted but Qabil wasn’t.  

By the passage of time, the practice of Qurbani can be traced back to Ibrahim, who dreamt that Allah ordered him to sacrifice his most precious thing.  In his devotion to Allah, Ibrahim agreed to follow his dream and perform the sacrifice. But Allah intervened and sent a ram to be sacrificed in Ismail’s place. It was narrated from Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah says, “Whoever can afford it, but does not offer a sacrifice, let him not come near our prayer place (Ibn Majah).”  

One can sacrifice a goat, sheep or dumba or one seventh portion of a cow, buffalo or camel. Seven people can sacrifice a cow, buffalo or camel. Regarding the Qurbani, one of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) asked him, “O Messengar of Allah! What is Quarbani? Where did it come from? In reply the Prophet (SAW) said, "It is the Sunnah of your father Ibrahim (AS). Qurbani is mandatory for every Muslim who has reached the age of puberty, and who can afford it.  

The companion further asked the Messenger (SAW), what can we achieve through this? Responding to the query, the Prophet (pbuh) said, “For every hair of the Qurbani, you will receive a reward from Allah and for every hair in the wool you will receive a reward.”  They asked: “For the wool, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied: “There is one reward for every strand of wool as Allah says in the Holy Quran, “Their meat will not reach Allah, nor will their blood, but what reaches Him is piety from you.”  

Eid-ul-Azha is one of the biggest religious festivals for Muslims that calls for sacrifice of domesticated halaal animals to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim (pbuh) to sacrifice his son Ismail (pbuh) as an act of obedience to Allah, the creator.  For Bangladesh, Eid-ul-Azha or Qurbani Eid is more than just a religious festival. A whole range of economic activity sets about the festival, opening a volley of employment and business opportunity for people from different walks of life.  

The business cycle starts with the raising of cattle, sheep and goat either by individual farmers or by large animal farms. The goat is perhaps the most misunderstood and neglected, but nevertheless important species of livestock in the third world countries.  

Among the Asiatic countries, Bangladesh, a tropical agro-based developing country, possesses the third largest repository of goats, with a population of more than 34 million heads, according to the FAO. This figure represents more than 57% of total livestock in Bangladesh.  The livestock plays an important role in the economic development of Bangladesh. This sector contributes about 19.43% in the gross domestic production (GDP) and provides some 48.62% employments in total labor market of the country. About 78.31% families across the country used to rear livestock in their houses. 

Goat is a very important animal of the country and Bangladesh is the fourth position in terms of rearing of goat. Rearing goat is considered to be a promising sector in the country. The total number of goat in the country is about 2.64 crore. Statistics shows that we can find the most number of goat in Meherpur, Chuadanga, Jhenaidah, Kushtia, Rajshahi and Naogaon.  

For a long period time, large-bearded goat importing from abroad especially from India besides the Black Bengal is being reared in the country. The weather of the country is favorable for rearing the Black Bengal variety goat. The Black Bengal goat is one of among 5 meat producing varieties in the world. It has more capability of giving birth of babies; the meat of Black Bengal goat is tasty; the leather is high standard; the environment of the country is more suitable for its living and is a tool of removing unemployment from the country.

In 2018, the current government has taken a project titled “Black Bengal Goat Development & Extension” to expand modern technology knowledge, ensure proper breeding services, provide training to farmers on modern goat rearing method, set up exhibition farm, create skilled manpower for rearing goat, create awareness in rearing goat and accord awards to all entrepreneurs. By implementing the project, the number of fattened goats has been increased 32% in last 4 years across the country for Qurbani purpose.

On the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha, the goat is reared in two ways at farm level. One is fattening method and other way is rearing by family. Some 20,42,786 goats and 3,29,962 sheep have been fattened where some 89,92,252 goats and sheep have been made ready for the Eid reared by family. Considering the demand of the Black Bengal goat, the production of this variety has been increased in this year.  

Rearing goat has become a commercial business the common people of the country as it can be reared easily in a small place and the weather is also favorable for rearing goat. The poor community of the country is getting self-reliant by making small investment in goat rearing. To continue success story, we all should encourage the goat keepers across the country. 

As a stimulus to rural poor people, the authority concerned should put emphasis on problems in rearing goat special on reducing death rate of goat baby, development of variety, extension of new technology in accommodation, cultivating grass and marketing management.      

The writer is the Project Director of Black Bengal Goat Development and Extension Project, Department of livestock Service  

---Kbd Shariful Haque