KATHMANDU — With just days to go before Nepal's biggest religious festival of the year, the capital Kathmandu is suffering a severe shortage of goats for ritual sacrifice, the government said Tuesday.
As a result, the government food agency has ordered officials to travel to the countryside and buy up goats to be brought into the capital, where they will be sold for slaughter to mark the main Hindu festival of Dashain.
"Kathmandu city faces a shortage of goats during the festival, which always brings a high demand for goat meat," Bijaya Thapa, deputy general manager at the Nepal Food Corporation, told AFP.
"We are bringing goats in to ease the supply and to control dramatic price hikes."
Goats and other animals are traditionally slaughtered during the 15-day festival, which begins on September 19, to appease the Hindu goddess of power, Durga.
Officials have been tasked with persuading farmers to sell their livestock in rural areas, where the government has posted adverts calling on people to sell their goats.
Thapa said the price of the animals had risen by around 25 percent in the capital as the festival approached, and the government was hoping to bring in around 6,000 of them.
"Our staff have been mobilised across the country to search for goats to prepare for the festival," he said, adding that the government would sell them at below market rates.
"Around 240 goats have already reached Kathmandu and we are expecting more in the coming days."
The government organised a similar initiative last year, but failed to meet its target of 4,000 goats, bringing just 2,300 into the capital.
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