Ministry Of Agriculture Delivers Bad News: Sales Of Sacrificial Animals Predicted To Drop By 60 Percent

Illustration of a sacrificial animal. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Agriculture estimates that there will be a 10 percent decline in sales of sacrificial animals on Eid al-Adha 2021, while the association of farmers and traders of sacrificial animals predicts the decline could reach 60 percent.

"In 2020, the total slaughter of sacrificial animals is 1,683,354. It is predicted that in 2021 there will be a decrease of around 10 percent, due to the condition of the COVID-19 pandemic, so there is a possibility of a decrease in the slaughter of sacrificial animals", said the Director of Animal Health at the Ministry of Agriculture, Nuryani Zainuddin, in a discussion. online Forum Merdeka Barat 9, quoted from Antara, Monday, July 12.

However, the view of business actors from the side of farmers and traders of sacrificial animals in the field predicts a bigger decline from the government. The chairman of the Indonesian Cattle and Buffalo Breeders Association (PPSKI), Nanang Purus Subendro, said that so far, the sale of sacrificial animals in the field has not reached 50 percent of the stock prepared at traders' stalls.

"From the beginning, the breeders had predicted that there would be a decline. The director said the possibility of a decrease of 10 percent, but if we look at the realization in the field, it looks like it could be more than 10 percent. Even though the traders have lowered the stock in their stalls, what happened from what was prepared was not all absorbed", said Nanang.

In fact, continued Nanang, traders in the field have reduced the number of sacrificial animals prepared for sale unlike in previous years because they have predicted a decline in demand.

Nanang said that currently, people are looking for sacrificial animals of the type of cattle with prices below IDR 23 million but have criteria to be slaughtered like sacrificial animals, namely adult cattle with fairly fat weight. Cows with the above price and weight criteria can only be met by Madura cattle and Bali cattle. Meanwhile, the mature criteria cattle for breeds such as limousine cattle and Brahman cattle on average have a large weight with prices above IDR 25 million.

In addition, the seller of sacrificial animals in Depok who is the owner of the Qurban Animal Mall, H Doni, admitted that the implementation of the Emergency Restrictions on Community Activities (PPKM) which took effect from July 3 20, 2021, also had an impact on the decline in sales of his livestock. According to him, limited mobility prevents shoppers from visiting his Animal Qurban Mall.

"I don't think it will go down by 10 percent, it will go down to 60 percent, because with PPKM in DKI Jakarta and Depok it's very tight", he said.