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Liaquat Ali, of Meerut, had a flourishing business as a cattle trader, supplying animals to local slaughterhouses, including some prominent meat exporters. But, for the last few months, his business has dwindled.
If the crackdown on ‘illegal’ abattoirs by the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh (UP) was not enough, Friday’s notification on the sale and purchase of animals from markets might leave Ali with hardly any option but to shut up shop.
“An old, infirm animal, be it a bull or a buffalo (called ‘kanda’ in local parlance) fetches somewhere around Rs 30,000-50,000 in local markets. Who will buy them now?” he asks.
The Union ministry of environment and forest has banned the sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter, and those purchasing animals from these markets would have to provide an undertaking that they would not be slaughtered.
After criticism from various quarters, the government on Saturday clarified that the new law was to protect beasts and not to regulate cattle trade for slaughterhouses, and said it would examine representations. However, the government’s statements have not helped soothe frayed nerves.
D B Sabharwal, secretary general, All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association, told Business Standard: “We want the government to remove buffalo from the definition of cattle under the new rules.” The association’s other major recommendation is not to include lairage in the definition of mandi. A lairage is a place where animals are laid for resting before slaughter.
India’s buffalo meat export in the financial year 2016-17 was worth $3.5 billion, and domestic consumption of buffalo meat is estimated at $2 billion.
Some of the provisions in the notification are not practical, say industry experts. Aspi Dinshaw, vice president, All India Meat and Livestock Exporters Association, said, “One provision says animals that have irreparable, severe injury or are terminally ill or have even died naturally can’t be sold for leather or flayed but such carcasses should be incinerated. Incinerations are costly and consume high-voltage power which most villages don’t have.”
The UP leather industry, estimated at Rs 20,000 crore, was already reeling under pressure due to a supply shortage of raw hide following stringent action and subsequent closure of illegal abattoirs in the state under the new political regime. UP has 50% share in the $5.3 billion leather exports. The new law will hurt the leather trade further. For example, the Kanpur cluster depends 80% on buffalo hides.
Agri-economy expert Sudhir Panwar said, “The direct fallout of the notification would mean the closure of unlicensed tanneries and slaughterhouses. It could also result in increased instances of stray animals as farmers and dairy owners would abandon their animals if they are unable to sell them.”
Rafeeque Ahmed, president of All India Skin and Hide Tanners and Merchants Association, said the move would disrupt an established system where all cattle, including productive and working draft animals and those meant for slaughter, were traded.
The ban also comes at a time when the Centre has set a target of $20 billion revenue for leather industry in the next three years.
An industry official said, “If the new law is implemented both in letter and spirit, within three months, the leather business will go to countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam, where all kinds of new leather clusters are coming up, and to Pakistan and China. No buyer is going to wait even for a month; they will go to another country.”
Tamil Nadu, another key exporting state, does not depend on buffalo hide, which accounts for only five% of the total hide used by the leather industry in the state. It sources hides locally, mostly goat and sheep, and also imports.
Kerala and some other states are exploring legal options as animal mandis are state subjects. However, legal experts say the new rules are issued by the environment ministry to stop cruelty on animals, making states’ case complex.
Meanwhile, Kerala-based slaughterhouse Meat Products of India (MPI) will be inaugurating the country’s largest meat-processing unit in Ernakulam, with central government funding, in a couple of days. The new facility would require around 6,000 cattle a month, and the company is worried about how to procure cattle after the new rules.
R S Sodhi, managing director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, which sells Amul brand dairy products, said there was no ban on farmers selling old cattle or even buying new ones for dairying purposes. “However, slaughterhouses have to approach the farms directly. This rules out the middlemen. Farmers can always buy and sell cattle for dairy and agricultural purposes,” he said.
But, there is a catch here. There are around 5,000 animal mandis in the country where auctions take place and it’s easy for farmers to go get the best price. Dinshaw said, “There are 50 odd conditions for maintaining mandis including building sheds, ensuring fodder and other facilities including water and lights. Who will make these investments now?”
And, if a farmer approaches slaughterhouses directly to sell unproductive cattle or milch bovines to dairies, buyers are expected to provide documents establishing his or her identity and also farmland ownership, pointed out executives of private dairies from Tamil Nadu and Punjab.
Dairy farmers, too, will face the problem of selling old cattle for new. Usually, milch animals have seven to eight milk cycles and they are not very productive towards the end of their life. Farmers don’t usually wait to get them unproductive as during the last few cycles, animals’ productivity falls and they sell them to buy new. That might not happen now.
“The immediate impact would be more availability of milk as farmers will keep cattle till they are productive. However, in the long run, the cost of production would increase for the dairy farmer as he would be forced to maintain less-productive cattle," said the head a leading dairy cooperative who did not wish to be quoted.
Rajesh Bhayani, Sanjeeb Mukherjee, Sohini Das, Virendra Singh Rawat and TE Narasimhan contributed to this story
