Chicken sell at N500 for fear of bird flu in Jos

Our correspondent came across a vehicle from which Danliti sells the birds for fear of infection by the disease.It was a chicken bonanza sales of sorts that weekend as a large crowd of people was seen buying the birds for domestic and commercial purposes at the market in Jos, the Plateau State capital.One of the […]

Our correspondent came across a vehicle from which Danliti sells the birds for fear of infection by the disease.
It was a chicken bonanza sales of sorts that weekend as a large crowd of people was seen buying the birds for domestic and commercial purposes at the market in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
One of the buyers, Garba Sani, said he bought three birds at the rate of N1500. “It has been long since I bought chicken for my family because of the hard economic situation, but because of the low prize I decided to buy for us to enjoy.”
When asked if he entertained fear that the chickens were infected with bird flu, Sani said, the birds didn’t look sick.”They are healthy. I am not scared of anything,” he added.
Mercy John, a petty trader at the New Market who bought two of the chickens, said, “I am buying these for my children; can’t you see the prize of two is not up to the cost of one. If you go inside the market where they sell live chickens, a single one is more than N1000. I am happy and I know my children will be happy too with only N1,000, I and my children will eat chicken today.”
Another buyer, Sale Aminu, who sells fried yams, potatoes with eggs and fried chickens at the market said, “Today is a bonanza day of chickens in our market. I bought 14 chickens from them. I am very happy to come across this bonanza. Today I will also reduce the prize of my fried chickens for my costumers.”
Daily Trust sought to know why Danliti was selling his chickens at N500 each when the same size of birds sell at N1000 to N1200 at the Yan kaji (chicken) market in the town. He said: “Those selling inside the market or in Yan kaji, their own businesses are selling live chickens. If we said we will be selling at the same prize people might not buy from us. We are selling them at that prize because of fear of being infected by bird flu. We heard that the disease is spreading like wild fire; it has affected many farms in Jos. So before it consumes my farm. Its better I sell them out to reduce the loss.
Danliti dismissed any compensation arrangement saying it is merely on the pages of newspapers. “I will not wait until I lose everything before compensation.”