Cow fattening practice galore in Narsingdi

Cow-fattening, a practice developed for fetching high price by increasing the weight and size of a cow, has gained popularity in Narsingdi for the last two decades. According to District Livestock Department sources, there are 231 cow fattening projects in the district and of them, 28 in Sadar upazila, 32 in Monahardi upazila, 52 in Polash upazila, 66 in Raipura upazila, 35 in Shibpur upazila and 18 projects in Belabo upazila.

Onunnah Dairy farm of Belabo upazila, Diganta Dairy farm of Raipura upazila, Ekota Dairy of Polash upazila, Suman Dairy farm of Monohardi upazila, Sreekrishina Dairy farm of Shibpur upazila and Pakija Dairy farm and Baki Dairy farm at Narsindi Sadar upazila are the top among all these farms.

Each of these farms has prepared at least 40 to 50 fattened cows for the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.  While tracing the background of cow fattening, it is found that this practice was initiated in different 'char' areas, particularly in river erosion-prone areas by Association for Social Advancement (ASH) aided by Production Employ-ment Project (PEP) of BRDB.

The PEP, with a view to creating employment for the poor village women to make them self-reliant, extended loans for rice husking, cattle rearing, duck and poultry rearing, along with cow fattening. According to a BRDB source, these projects created enormous employment opportunities for poor women. However, the PEP suspended the loan program with the stopping of financing by ASH. But the cow-fattening project is still very popular in this district.

District Livestock Officer (DLO) Narsingdi Dr. Abdus Samad said about one thousand cows in six upazilas of this district are now under utmost care and nourishment at the last moment before Eid. Narrating about the three-month intense care, the DLO told The Asian Age that the very first approach to this practice begins with de-worming the targeted cows through using oral medicine or injecting anathematic drug (worm destroying drug), because worms resist growth of the cows. After that the cows are given vitamin drugs for a few days.

-AA Correspondent, Narsingdi