COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka’s government announced Tuesday that it will ban cattle slaughter, saying it would help the dairy industry and thereby save money used to purchase imported milk powder.
But an analyst said the decision was politically motivated to please the Buddhist majority and would harm dairy farmers.
Cabinet ministers decided at a meeting Monday to immediately amend the Animal Act, the Cattle Slaughter Ordinance and other laws and regulations passed by local authorities regarding cattle slaughter, the government’s information department said.
It said the Cabinet believed that an increase in cattle slaughter was making it hard for traditional farmers to acquire cows for dairy farming.
Independent political analyst Kusal Perera called the decision totally counter-productive because no milk industry can sustain itself without a beef industry.
He said the move is more a…