Khandaker Minhaz Islam of Mirpur bought his qurbani animal this year without going to a haat. No cash to carry through a crowd, no negotiating in the rain, no dragging a cow home down Mirpur Road, and no wondering whether it was healthy. For a growing number of families in Dhaka the online market, which began as a pandemic workaround in 2020, has become the normal way to buy.
Digital Haat: priced by the kilo
The official platform, digitalhaat.gov.bd, is run by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock with the ICT Division's a2i-ekShop and the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh. This year it lists cattle from haats supervised by district and upazila livestock offices plus 68 e-CAB-vetted entrepreneurs. Its distinctive feature is the price list: animals are sold by live weight, at Tk 475 per kilo up to 400 kg, Tk 525 per kilo from 401 to 500 kg and Tk 575 per kilo from 501 to 600 kg, which removes the guesswork of the haat. Buyers can deal with a seller directly or pay through escrow, where the money is held until the animal is delivered, said e-CAB general secretary Mohammad Abdul Wahed. The platform sold 27,000 animals in 2020 and 387,000 in 2021, according to e-CAB president Shomi Kaiser.
The private sellers
- Bikroy.com lists cattle with free home delivery and cash on delivery.
- Bengal Meat (qurbani.bengalmeat.com) sells the animal, performs the sacrifice and delivers the meat chilled, with temperature control at every step.
- Sadeeq Agro in Mohammadpur sells from its own farm with photos and prices online.
- Facebook farms. Arma Agriculture in Ashulia raised 75 cattle for this Eid and sells them by token number on its page; buyers can visit before paying. Hundreds of smaller farms do the same, and many are already marked "sold out".
Cashless haats and online butchers
For those who still want to see the animal, Bangladesh Bank and Dhaka North City Corporation's "Smart Haat" scheme lets buyers pay for the animal and the haat fee by bKash at Gabtoli, Bosila, Aftabnagar, Bhatara, Kawla and Uttara sector 17; sellers cash out at agents without charge or straight to a bank account. Sheba.xyz and Facebook pages such as Koshai Supply and Koshai Zone book butchers, charged per thousand taka of the animal's price, and Sheba also supplies registered cleaners for the waste.
How not to get cheated
Pay by escrow or on delivery, never in advance to an unverified page; ask for a video with today's newspaper; check the animal's age by its teeth on delivery; and for anything over Tk 1 lakh, visit the farm. The convenience is real, but so is the scam page that appears every July.
