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Ram sellers blame low sales on the ravages of floods this year. Weekly Trust went round the markets.

Malam Yakubu Mairago, a ram trader in Mararaba, a satellite town close to Abuja, is worried over the low sales of ram this year even as the Idel-Kabir festivity is less than a week away. While he says the low sales is because of the high cost of ram, he blames everything on the flood that ravaged most states of the north within the past few months of the raining season. He told Weekly Trust: “To some extent, it is possible that the flood that ravaged the north could be responsible for the high cost of ram in markets in Malumfashi, Maradi and Jigawa. Big rams that we bought at the rate of N40-N45, 000 last year now goes for N50-N55, 000, while medium and small rams go for N25, 000 and N20, 000 respectively. By the time you add the cost of transporting the rams to the market, you will have no choice but to sell the big ones for N60-N70, 000 while the medium and the small ones go for N35, 000 and N25, 000 respectively.”

Something that has also added to the high cost of ram, he says, is the high cost of feeds. “Even the feed for the animals too have jumped from N1, 200 to N2000,” he laments. “We in Abuja depend on government patronage through the supply of rams ranging from 50 or 20 rams as the case may be. By this time last year, we had started supplying. But things have been very slow in the market this year. All the same we still thank God and hope things will pick up before Sallah.”

Hajiya Zuwaira Salihu who came to purchase ram in the market says the ram she bought for N25, 000 last year now goes for N30, 000. “Rams are untouchable this year,” she says, lamenting. “When will things that go up come down in Nigeria? I think since I have a large compound I will start rearing animals. I can imagine paying N30, 000 a ram that I bought for N25, 000 last year. These things are for religious purposes for God sake!”
In Kano, the problem seem to be that there are fewer rams for sale this year compared to last year’s Sallah festivity, Weekly Trust investigations has revealed. The small number of the animals for the religious festival this year is due to the long period of rainfall that was experienced this year in the north, the ram sellers say. But that notwithstanding, the short supply and lack of funds has affected demands and caused a fall in prices of the rams as against last year, many ram dealers say.

A ram dealer at the Zoo Road animal market, Babangida Abdullahi, says many villagers did not rear a lot of animals this year because of the high rainfall. Rearing and fattening rams is done in a conducive environment, with proper shelter to protect the animals from rain. If such conditions are not met, he explained, the rams will not do well and the business may end in a loss. The dealer said he came all the way from Jahun in Jigawa State to trade in the livestock in Kano.

As most of the farmers could not afford to provide shelter for the rams against the rains, they abandoned the business and took to something else, he says. “Previously, the rains would stop about three months to the Sallah and that gap was enough for us to rear the rams to marketable size,” says Abdullahi.

The chairman Zoo Road market, Alhaji Lawal Kazaure, explained that because of the rains, many livestock farmers ventured into other trades, fearing that rearing animals will not yield much gain.

Ram dealers in Kano attributed this development to the short supply of ram for this year’s Sallah ritual. Similarly, Weekly Trust observed that the usual street shepherding of rams for sale that is common during the religious festivity in the state has declined significantly.
There were few people herding rams along busy roads in order to woo buyers. Mostly, the animals are found at various livestock markets within and around the city.

In spite of the seeming shortage of rams, the dealers say the prices have dropped compared to last year, attributing the change to non-availability of funds on the buyers’ side. Abdullahi, who has the biggest rams in the Zoo Road market disclosed that a ram that was sold for N120, 000 during the previous year’s Sallah, now sells for N80, 000. He told Weekly Trust that while he was able to sell 55 rams before Sallah day last year, this year he was only able to sell 20 rams – five days to Sallah.

“I hope there will be money in the hands of people before Sallah day so that I can sell all my rams just like last year,” he says. “The last time we witnessed such low patronage was two years ago.”

An average ram, according to Alhaji Lawal Kazaure, is sold at N45, 000 in the market. However, a buyer who gave his name as Alhaji Lawan Garba says he was happy with the prices of the animals this year as “all classes of people can afford them.”
Like the dealers, Alhaji Garba observed that shortage of money in circulation may be the only hindrance for people who want to get Sallah rams. The fact that the Sallah period falls in the middle of the month, many people may be precluded from observing the slaughtering ritual this year as salaries have not been paid.

The ram dealers disclosed that their biggest customers are politicians who buy the animals to offer them as gifts to associates, relations, bosses and even supporters. “A politician can buy as many as 50 or 60 rams and they usually buy the biggest rams,” Alhaji Kazaure says. “All these rams you are seeing with marks on their necks have been paid for by a politician and very soon a truck will arrive to convey them,” he adds.
Cattle dealers say their business have not witnessed any decline as they have been making sales since the approach of Sallah. One Alhaji Auwalu Maishanu says he has been able to sell about seven big-sized bulls whose prices range from N250, 000 and above, as well as 23 others of various prices.

The high patronage of cattle may not be unconnected with the growing practice of collective buying and sharing (popularly called Watanda) among Muslim faithfuls in various parts of the state. The practice has helped bridge the gap in the purchasing power of many individuals by affording them the chance of taking meat home to enjoy the festivities.
There is hope, nonetheless, among animal dealers and their prospective customers that before Sallah day, money will be available for all to enjoy the religious feast.

In Kaduna, a ram dealer at the popular Tudun-Wada ram market, Rabiu Bala, says that the flood killed some of their animals, which led to a shortage in rams available for sale compared to the number that was available during last year’s Eidel-Kabir celebration.
He says, however, that the flood did not significantly affect the price of rams following complaints by many people that they lack money, something which has led to low patronage.

He says a big-sized ram which was sold at 60,000 naira last year now goes for N50, 000, while a medium and small sized ram which sold for N50, 000 and N15, 000 last year now goes for N40, 000 and 10,000 respectively.
Another ram dealer from Zamfara State, Abubakar Kada, says that the market is not as busy as it was last year due to the shortage of rams caused by the flood which destroyed a culvert that leads to the gidan dawa in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

He also said that the flood led to the collapse of buildings, damage of farm crops which are used in feeding the animals and most importantly the death of their animals, especially the ones that are not big enough to escape the flood. One of the buyers, Suleiman Yusuf says, “The size I bought last year for N20, 000 is sold for N22, 000 naira this year.”

The Tudun-Wada ram market, popularly known as Tudun-Wada Zango in Kaduna is a major market for buying and selling of rams, goats, cattle, cows and sheep. Traders of livestock from Kano, Zamfara, Sokoto, Jigawa and other northern states throng the market during festive periods.
In Bauchi, all the three cattle and domestic animals markets visited by Weekly Trust had hundreds of available domestic animals for sale but they were waiting for buyers to come and price them....

The leader of the ram dealers and marketers and Sarkin Tuken Bauchi, Alhaji Musa Firo told Weekly Trust that the major problem this festive season is poor sales due to low patronage, because people now wait for government and the politicians to buy rams and distribute to them free of charge.
Alhaji Musa Firo, says, “The low sales are discouraging since the prices of the rams were not high when compared with the prices we sold the animals last two years’ festive seasons where an average ram was sold from N8, 000 up to N100, 000, cows from N40, 000 up to N150, 000 and camels were being sold from 70,000 up to N120, 000.”

Another dealer Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu Shekal says, “There are good rams in the market, but we are not making good sales, and we have problem of feed. Livestock production is expensive because of the high cost of feeds. Sheep and cattle breeders have to purchase feeds; that is the reason why we sent most of our animals to the bush in the morning to look for food and returned them in the evening.”

Since majority of the people cannot afford to buy small ram at the cost of N8, 000 they now change their decision to contribute money and slaughter a cow and share it among members of the group who contributed the money, an arrangement called “Ton Ton”. Mallam Ubayo Baba Gana told Weekly Trust that about ten of them contributed N5,000 to purchase a big cow that has more meat and they realised it is cheaper and better than purchasing a small ram that has no meat.” Maybe, as the Sallah day approaches nearer, the sales will pick up.