GADAG: The sale and purchase of cattle has gone digital in Gadag district after fuel prices went northwards.
The sellers are sharing information about the cattle along with images on social media platforms before coming to the cattle market.
With the monsoon approaching, the Kharif season will start and purchasing of cattle by farmers is quite common.
But because of mechanisation of farming, the use of cattle was reduced. However, demand for the cattle is back in the wake of increased fuel prices as the farmers cannot bear the cost of maintenance of tractors.
To avoid taking their animal to market, those who want to sell their cattle are using WhatsApp groups to upload pictures and information.
Finally, they call each other to meet and sell the cattle. Tontadappa Sudi, a farmer from Gadag said, "Many farmers are now using the Internet to find cattle. Farmers send the details and pictures to groups in WhatsApp and ask the members to forward or share the same to other like-minded groups. They are also getting their customers through these groups."
Venkatesh Dahinde from Ron said, "I am a farmer and I have 18 cattle. Many farmers ask me to sell or purchase their cattle. We have some WhatsApp groups where some farmers and dairy owners are also members. We share details in such groups. We are getting good replies and cattle sales are on the rise as they get photos, videos and information and some have also finalised their purchases over the phones too”.
Meanwhile, demand for cattle is seen in the offline sale too. Gadag’s cattle market in APMC premises got good footfall last Saturday. After many years, the market witnessed the sale of 300 cattle in a single day.