Growing Meat Demand in Kurdistan Region Fuels Smuggling

[Aslan]

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Annual demand for red meat in the Kurdistan Region is rising by 10 percent, and smugglers are taking advantage by importing animals that often carry diseases and parasites that pose grave risks to human health, a ministry official said.

"Smuggling cattle into the Kurdistan Region has increased in the past two years," said
Miqdad Ibrahim, a veterinary director at the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, adding that smuggled cattle comes mainly from India and Pakistan. He said that 30,000 tons of red meat is consumed in the autonomous Kurdish enclave.

"The cattle that come from India and Pakistan have many diseases. They carry many internal and external parasites such as fleas and lice," he told Rudaw. "There is a certain worm inside the cattle flesh that affects the brain and joints in humans and causes water sacks," he said.

Officially, cattle are mostly imported from Iran, where the weak Iranian currency means cheaper meat, he said, adding that during periods of high demand annually animals also are imported from Syria.

"Demand for red meat is increasing by 10 per cent every year," Ibrahim said, attributing the rise to growing income and a rising population.

Cattle smuggling from India and Pakistan began two years ago, with the animals first sneaked into Iran and then out to the Kurdistan Region. Butchers complain about the quality of smuggled cattle coming from Iran.

“Iranian cattle are sick and the meat is not tasty," said Jalal Garmiyani, a butcher at Erbil’s cattle market. "When the Indian and Pakistani cattle are slaughtered, we can see puss with the blood," he added.

Ibrahim said that cattle butchered at the government slaughter houses must pass a health check.

“Around 600 to 1,000 animals are brought to the market every day. Most are illegally brought from Syria, Iran and Turkey,” said Rasheed Ali, a trader at the cattle market in Erbil. “Due to the devaluation of Iranian currency, Iranian sheep are brought in large numbers as their price is lower than the Turkish and Kurdish sheep," he said.

Part of the illegally imported cattle is sent on to the other, Arab provinces, of Iraq, where the meat has not gained much popularity.

"Arabs do not buy Syrian sheep and say that they are stolen and looted, and buying and selling stolen animals is religiously forbidden," said Ali.

According to official data, 531,482 goats and sheep and 100,000 cattle were slaughtered in the Kurdistan Region in 2012.

[Anthea]

I am surprised that Syria has meat to share with other countries