More than 93 lakh animals were sacrificed across Bangladesh during this year’s Eid-ul-Azha while 29 lakh animals remained unsold, said State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Ministry Sultan Salauddin Tuku on Thursday.

A total of 9,367,418 animals were sacrificed during the festival, up by 231,418 from last year's 9,136,000, he said at a press conference at Secretariat.

The country successfully met 100 percent of the demand for sacrificial animals through livestock reared by local farmers, demonstrating the self-reliance of Bangladesh's livestock sector, he said.

He also attributed the success to the hard work of millions of farmers, investments by entrepreneurs, the tireless efforts of officials and employees of the Department of Livestock Services, and the government's timely policy support.

He said of the 93.67 lakh animals sacrificed, 48.64 lakh were cattle and buffaloes, 45.02 lakh were goats and sheep, and 1,027 belonged to other categories.

He said the demand for sacrificial animals this year was estimated at 1.01 crore while the availability stood at 1.23 crore leaving a surplus of 29.66 lakh animals.

Last year, the estimated demand was 1.03 crore animals against an availability of 1.24 crore. A total of 91.36 lakh animals were sacrificed, leaving a surplus of 33.11 lakh.

Division-wise statistics showed that Dhaka recorded the highest number of sacrificial animals at 23.51 lakh followed closely by Rajshahi with 23.42 lakh and Chattogram with 17.34 lakh.

Other divisions recorded the following numbers of sacrificed animals: Khulna 8.46 lakh, Rangpur 10.50 lakh, Barishal 4 lakh, Mymensingh 3.67 lakh and Sylhet 2.74 lakh.