Demand for red meat has declined by 25-30% and per capita consumption lowered to 8.5 kilograms in the current Iranian year (March 2020-21) compared to the year before, according to the chairman of Sheepmeat Union.
“Meat consumption has decreased considerably compared to previous years due to rising prices,” Ali Asghar Maleki was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency on Monday.
He referred to shortage of livestock and the rise in prices caused by the excessive slaughter of young cattle since the beginning of the current fiscal year (started March 21) and said, "Under these conditions, the market will face a shortage of mutton within a month."
Light livestock that are between 100 and 150 days old are being slaughtered and sent to the market due to the shortage of animal feed resulting from the disastrous mismanagement of the distribution and price control of fodder, barley and alfalfa, according to the head of Light Livestock Owners Association.
“This will, for sure, result in scarcity of sheep herds and a drastic rise in meat prices in the near future, as lambs and entire livestock [capable of breeding] are being sent to slaughterhouses,” Afshin Sadr-Dadras was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
The official complained that mismanagement in providing animal feed began more than two years ago.
“The officials concerned have been deaf to all warnings. Throughout this long period, animal farm owners, businesspeople from the private sector and experts have tried to raise the government’s attention and inform them of the alarming situation but to no avail,” he said.
The government, added Sadr-Dadras, set up an online platform, called Bazargah, and claimed it would solve the problem of animal feed distribution, sideline middlemen, manage allotments to each farm and put an end to rent-seeking and illegal activity.
“This never happened. The allotments were not enough and the delivery of livestock feed consignments took at least two months after they were ordered. Therefore, farmers were made to procure these products from the open market at much higher prices. For example, barley prices at Bazargah costs 19,000 rials [$0.07] per kilogram, but farmers had to purchase each kilo at 60,000 rials [$0.24] from the open market,” he said.
The official noted that for this reason and because animal farmers were unable to provide as much feed as their herds required, they started selling their young livestock for slaughter.
“Practically speaking, a large part of our herd owners have now gone bankrupt.”
Sadr-Dadras said that over the second half of the year, the domestic meat market will be in a difficult situation and those with no knowledge of animal husbandry and agricultural matters who took faulty decisions and brought the livestock business and market to this point should be held accountable.
Reiterating the same, Mojtaba Aali, CEO of the National Animal Farmers Association, says drought and low precipitation levels have made most pastures barren and fodder is highly scarce.
“Add to this scarcity, the government mismanagement of animal feed imports and distribution. Right now, the meat market is doing fine because farmers, not being able to feed their cattle and herds, are selling them too early and before they are fit to be slaughtered. What this will bring about is a dramatic fall in livestock and meat supply within the next three to six months,” he added.
CEO of the Nomadic Cooperative Association for Itinerant Livestock Farmers Fazl Khorram said that this year’s drought has made its negative impacts and the nomadic livestock are perishing away.
“If the government does not intervene and buy livestock from nomads at agreed prices, intermediaries will enter the scene and make purchases at much lower prices. This will threaten the livelihood of our nomads,” he added.
The official noted that there are currently 246,000 nomadic households in Iran who own a total of 22.4 million head of livestock, supplying between 25% and 30% (around 190,000 tons) of the country’s meat requirements.
“The country’s nomadic population has suffered losses of up to 16.2 trillion rials [$60 million], due to this year’s drought. The figure is increasing by the day and the problem needs to be addressed urgently,” he told ILNA.
