30th August, 2017
The Taraba Sheep and Goat Sellers Association, on Wednesday, blamed the high cost of rams in the state, ahead of the Eid-el-Kabir, on the increase in the price of animal feeds.
Alhaji Umar Usman, the chairman of the association, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jalingo that the prices of bags of beans and guinea corn chaffs had risen by 100 per cent.
He said that the price of a bag of beans’ chaffs, which was formerly sold for N2,500 a few weeks ago, now costs N5,000.
Usman said that a bag of guinea corn chaffs, that was sold for N1,000 earlier in the month, now attracts N2,500.
The chairman also attributed the hike in the price of chaffs to the increase in the price of grains in the state.
“A bag of either beans or guinea corn now costs between N16,000 and N20,0000 in the market.
“Therefore, chaffs will also be on the high side since grains are expensive,” Usman said.
He said that the high cost of feeds had affected the prices of rams, since no animal merchant would want to sell at a loss.
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The association’s chairman said, however, that the prices of big and medium sized rams had dropped considerably, compared to the 2016 prices.
The price of a big ram in 2016 was in the region of N120,000, which one could buy now between N80,000 and N100,000.
Similarly, a medium sized ram, that cost between N50,000 and N60,000 in 2016, now attracts between N35,000 and N40,000’’.
He blamed the variation in the prices of rams on the economic situation in the country, noting that buyers now settled for small rams.
Usman, however, said that this development had also led to a marginal increase in the prices of small rams, due to the high demand for them.