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YAVATMAL: He sits despondently with his array of unsold cow-bells and cattle ornaments at the Ghatanji cattle bazaar. Arun Nandeshwar’s livelihood is now collateral damage in the fallout of Maharashtra’s beef ban. With trade paralysed by the ban, Nandeshwar has barely any customers.

Nandeshwar has been selling cattle gear for the last decade. His assortment includes brightly polished brass bells, leather neck-straps lined with ghunghroos and cowrie shells as well as head-gear and ropes. "I used to make between 5,000 and Rs 10,000 every week during the season. Now I make barely Rs 1,000," he says. Half his earnings go to the trader he gets his stock from, leaving him with barely anything.

This used to be the peak season for the cattle trade. Ahead of the sowing season, farmers would sell old and redundant cattle and buy younger stock. Located in the deprived cotton belt of Vidarbha, the Ghatanji bazaar is among the largest in the region. Up to 5,000 cows and bullocks used to be on display at the weekly market during this season, traders say. Now there are barely 500 cattle here and even these are not selling.

The state government’s decision to extend the ban on cow slaughter to bullocks in March cut off the demand from abattoirs which were key customers for old livestock.

Raids by Hindutva groups have also caused a wave of panic among traders. They speak in hushed tones about how cattle worth Rs 6 lakh were confiscated from a trader who was leading a herd from one market to another. "The cattle are well looked after in gaushalas but men are in jail. We live in interesting times," jokes a trader, Shaikh Irshad.

The ban was enacted to protect "cow progeny" in keeping with the BJP’s manifesto. Ironically, it has resulted in the once-prized bullocks becoming much less valued by farmers.

Over the last few years, Vidarbha has seen the distress sale of cattle as the agrarian crisis deepened. Cash-strapped farmers started selling directly to dalals visiting their villages. That started undermining trade at the cattle markets. Now the ban has virtually frozen it.

Old bullocks which used to draw around Rs 20,000 a pair are not selling at all in Ghatanji. Prices even for younger livestock have halved from roughly Rs 60,000 a pair to Rs 30,000. Prime cattle which rated up to Rs 1 lakh is down to Rs 50,000, traders say.

"Why would anyone buy bullocks if they cannot resell them when they are old?" points out trader Nazir Khan from Arni village. "As it is, farmers have lost purchasing power because of the drought," he says.

Across the bazaar we meet debt-ridden farmers who have been coming here for weeks, hoping to find buyers for their bullocks. Gajanan Udhar, who has a loan of Rs 1.40 lakh, has been trying in vain for a month to resell a pair of bullocks he bought at Rs 40,000.

Meanwhile, the cost of retaining livestock is going up. With barely any crop this year, farmers are forced to buy fodder to keep their cattle alive. "I spend at least Rs 200 a day on fodder," says Namdeo Raut, who does not own any land and works as a farm hand.

Farmers say they prefer to hire bullocks for the sowing season at the cost of around Rs 800 a day. "Hired cattle costs around Rs 12,000 for the season. It’s cheaper than maintaining them through the year," says Raut.

Cattle traders who make a commission by buying cattle at one market and selling it to another have also been hit. Typically traders here make Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per bullock. "I earned roughly Rs 50,000 per month in the three-month season. Now it is down to nothing," says Irshad.