The demand of goat meat increased significantly during the festive season this year in the Kathmandu Valley, with nearly 55,000 goats sold over the two week period, according to Nepal Livestock Traders Association. The sales figure hovered around 50,000 during last year’s festive season.

Out of the total number of goats supplied to fulfill the meat demand during Dashain, 21,000 were local goats reared in various parts of the country. Likewise, around 34,000 goats were imported from India to meet the demand, according to Dipak Thapa, a goat trader and former president of the association.

Traders sold local goats at the rate of Rs545 to Rs550 per kg this year. Similarly, the goats imported from India were priced at Rs 520 per kg. The traders supplied goat from different parts of the country like Surkhet, Bardiya, Nepalgunj, Salyan, Jajarkot, Rukum, Katari including from neighbouring districts of the Valley like Makwanpur, Nuwakot and Dhading. Apart from regular goats, there was a supply of around 15,000 mountain goats during the festive season. Out of the total supply of the mountain goats, 10,000 were sold. As the price of mountain goat is much higher than the regular ones, its sale was not encouraging, according to Thapa. Around 3,000 mountain goats were imported from China while the remaining were brought to Kathmandu from Mustang district. The rise in mountain goat prices this year has been attributed to customs duty. According to Thapa, traders have to pay Rs1,300 per mountain goat as import duty.

According to the Department of Customs, 100,155 live goats worth Rs771 million were imported from India for Dashain during the two-month period from mid-August to mid-September. Imports during the two-month period account for one-fourth of annual imports. Mutton consumption is high during Dashain. The consumption of mutton increased by 30 percent in the Valley this Dashain compared to last year’s festival season, said Anil Khadgi, vice-chairman of Nepal Fish and Meat Sellers Association. The Kathmandu Valley consumes around 90,000 kg of goat meat daily during normal time, said the association. Nepal’s annual per capita meat consumption is estimated at 12 kg. It was 9.8 kg in 2008 and 9.7 kg in 2000. Despite the growth, Nepal is still far behind other developing countries.

Buffalo meat is the most popular meat in Nepal followed by goat, chicken and pig. There are more than 5 million live buffaloes in the country, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Mutton accounts for 20 percent of the country’s meat demand. The ministry estimates that there are more than 10 million live goats in the country.