Nepal Food Corporation (NFC) has started selling goats and sheep from Friday for the Dashain

festival. It has fixed the price at Rs435 per kg for goats weighing less than 25 kg. Goats weighing more than 25 kg have been priced at Rs445 per kg. Mountain goats cost Rs630 per kg.

The state-owned company said that their prices for goats and mountain goats were a little bit lower than what private traders charge. It plans to sell 381 goats and 692 mountain goats from its outlet located at Thapathali.

NFC said that fewer goats and sheep were available for the festival this year as strikes in the Tarai had hampered procurement across the country. The corporation had expected to bring 1,500 goats and 1,000 mountain goats for the Dashain sacrificial ritual and feasting.

“We have tried hard to bring goats as per the target, but we couldn’t do so due to hurdles in the collection process,” said Shree Mani Khanal, spokesperson of NFC. According to Khanal, goats and mountain goats are being brought to Kathmandu from Makwanpur, Hetauda, Chitwan and Mustang districts.

The corporation used to procure goats from Nepalgunj, Banke, Surkhet, Salyan, Dang, Gaighat and Siraha, among other locations in the Tarai. NFC had missed its goat sales target last year too due to lack of internal coordination. It used to sell 3,000 to 3,500 goats during the Dashain festival in the past.

Meanwhile, private traders have been selling goats at prices ranging from Rs435 to Rs465 per kg. Mountain goats are being sold at Rs700 per kg. Prices of goats and mountain goats are higher compared to last year.

Traders said that problems in transportation due to the fuel crisis had pushed up prices. Last year, the price of a goat was in the range of Rs425 to Rs450 per kg, while mountain goats cost Rs650 per kg.

According to traders, around 40,000 goats will be brought for the Dashain festival. Traders said that it was hard to bring mountain goats from Manang, one of the main sources of mountain goats, due to difficulties in shipping.

Traders said that some of the goats being sold in the valley had come from places like Nepalgunj, Salyan, Dang, Gaighat, Nuwakot, Makwanpur and Dhading, while others had been imported from India.

“As the supply route through Nepalgunj has reopened, we have been able to bring goats from India,” said Deepak Thapa, president of the Nepal Livestock Traders Association. According to Thapa, around 8,000 he-goats were shipped from India on Thursday.

According to reports from Kapilvastu, 1,564 goats valued at Rs10 million entered Nepal through the Krishnanagar border point on Thursday. The customs point, which had been closed for many days, reopened on Thursday after agitating Madhes-based parties relaxed their protest programme for the festival season.

Around 10 traders from Bahraich, Kanpur and Nanpara in India have been dispatching goats to Kathmandu. Ibrahim Musalman, a trader in Bahraich, said that they were planning to ship 15 truckloads of goats to Kathmandu on Saturday. Each truck carries 250-300 goats worth Rs1 million to Rs2.3 million.