JEDDAH, 31 January — Pilgrims will pay more to buy sacrificial animals during this year's Haj because a six-month-old ban on the import of livestock from Africa and neighboring countries following the outbreak of the Rift Valley Fever in the Kingdom has led to a substantial increase in the prices.
Under a project jointly undertaken by the Saudi government and the Islamic Development Bank to make maximum use of sacrificial meat, some 650,000 heads have been secured from other sources to meet demand during Haj which reaches its peak on March 4. The project aims at distributing the sacrificial meat to the poor and needy Muslims around the world.
IDB President Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ali met in Jeddah yesterday with embassy representatives and officials in charge of Haj affairs in Muslim countries and briefed them on the goals and objectives of the project.
He said arrangements had been made for the slaughter of 650,000 animals by pilgrims under IDB supervision during this Haj. Every possible effort has been made to reduce the cost and savings from previous years were used.
The outbreak of the RVF in southern Saudi Arabia last September, which caused at least 120 deaths in the country, prompted the authorities to impose a ban on the import of animals from eight countries including Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Yemen and Dakak Islands in the Red Sea. The government said the ban was a precautionary measure against the spread of the potentially deadly disease transmitted from animals to humans by mosquitoes.
Some two million Muslims from all over the world are expected to make the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Makkah this year. On the second day of Haj, the 10th of the lunar month of Dul Hijja, pilgrims will observe the great day of the commemorative sacrifice (Eid Al-Adha) where hundreds of thousands of sheep, cattle and camels are slaughtered.
Dr. Ali told the delegates that due to the ban, the price of sheep went up sharply. It also resulted in difficulties in the importation of animals that meet the strict health and religious requirements, he added. Pilgrims will be asked to pay SR375 for one sheep compared to SR340 last year.
Last year nearly 5000,000 animals were slaughtered under the sacrificial meat project with some of the meat used inside the Kingdom and the rest shipped for distribution among the Muslim poor in 27 countries.
The IDB has built largest slaughterhouse in the world for this purpose at a cost of more than SR500 million ($134 million). There are four other slaughterhouses built by the Saudi government in Mina outside Makkah, where pilgrims are required to stay for three days before the conclusion of Haj rites.
Dr. Ali said the project would employ 45,000 people, including 1,100 veterinarians, 600 religious scholars who would ensure that the process was done according to Islamic regulations and an army of
butchers, technicians and laborers.
Over the past 25 years, the Jeddah-based bank with a capital of $9 billion has extended more than $20 billion in aid to its member countries and Muslim minorities in the form of loans, grants and technical assistance to help finance development projects. Special funds have been allocated for education, health, training and social projects in favor of Muslim communities in non-member states.
