The fact that digital cattle markets are becoming increasingly ubiquitous with each passing year is a testament to just how successful the government’s Digital Bangladesh agenda has been.
Traditionally, people have always relied on physical cattle markets to buy their sacrificial animals for Eid Al-Adha, but physical markets come with their own set of problems. From taking up huge portions of space to the unregulated and volatile nature of the markets themselves, continuing to rely on physical cattle markets is no longer feasible.
As such, with the number of digital cattle markets increasing year on year, the usage of these digital markets should become the norm in the future.
Digital cattle markets generally have a fairer pricing schedule than physical cattle markets. Haggling has become an integral part of physical cattle markets, and cattle farmers often quote absurd prices for their cattle in order to make the most out of these transactions. Since haggling is primarily an in-person phenomenon, this is something that is generally not found in digital markets, which means that the prices are fairer.
But the biggest impediment posed by physical cattle markets the space the take up and due to the nature of these markets, contribute to the degradation of their immediate surroundings. However, since the cattle of digital cattle markets are kept in designated farming areas or industrial zones, this is one pitfall that is easily bypassed.
Digital cattle markets are more efficient as well. A transaction in a digital cattle market can be finished in minutes in the comfort of one’s bedroom. Couple that with the fact that with some added expenditure, a lot of digital cattle sellers actually deliver the processed meat of the sacrificial animals right to the buyer’s doorstep, and the hassle of finding and overseeing the work of butchers becomes minimized as well.
The benefits of digital cattle markets are too many to jot down. It is encouraging to see the government seeing the benefits of such ventures and taking steps to actively support them. This is a trend that should be continued.
We have ambitions of becoming a fully digital nation within 2041. To that end, digital cattle markets should be the norm, not the exception.
