Price crash: Cattle traders, owners count losses in Taraba

Cattle breeders and dealers in Taraba State are dealing with a difficult situation due to the sharp decline in prices in all 10 of the state’s major cattle markets. The largest cattle markets in the state are Iware in Ardo-Kola, which operates on Tuesdays, Garba Chedein Bali, which operates on Thursdays, and Maraban Kukini in […]

Cattle breeders and dealers in Taraba State are dealing with a difficult situation due to the sharp decline in prices in all 10 of the state’s major cattle markets.

The largest cattle markets in the state are Iware in Ardo-Kola, which operates on Tuesdays, Garba Chedein Bali, which operates on Thursdays, and Maraban Kukini in Lau Local Government Area, which operates on Saturdays.

Others are Jatau and Maraban Baissa in Bali and Donga local government areas, which operate on Sundays and Fridays respectively.

However, there are other pockets of cattle markets in Nguroje and Mayo Ndaga in Sardauna Local Government Area, which run on Sundays and Mondays, while the Maihula and Bantaje in Wukari and Bali local government areas are open on Thursdays and Saturdays.

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Weekend Trust findings revealed that the price of cattle started declining for about three months; and the price is still crashing.

Cattle breeders and dealers who bought before the price crashed have lost millions of naira.

Muktari Mairiga Sabongida, a cattle dealer, told Weekend Trust in a telephone interview that those in the cattle business had suffered losses following a crash in the price of animals.

He said many dealers had brought a single cow at N850,000 to  N950,000 with the hope of making profits, but unfortunately, their hopes were dashed when prices crashed.

He lamented that he and other dealers had bought hundreds of cows when the price was high, but soon after, it crashed, resulting to the loss of millions of naira of their capital.

According to him, presently, a cow bought at N950,000 has come down to N700,000, while the ones they bought at N850,000 have come down to N600,000.

Another dealer, Lawal Maishanu, said dealers who transported cattle and goats to the eastern part of the country were not getting good sales; hence they are forced to sell their animals at a loss as buyers are deliberately bringing down prices and dealers have no options. As a result of this, it is no longer profitable to transport cattle to the east.

Bello Saidu, another cow dealer, told Weekend Trust that the situation was the same in cattle markets in Taraba State.

He said that buyers from the East and other towns in the North were still coming to the markets but they devised a means of exploiting cattle breeders through poor pricing.

He said exploitative tendencies introduced by cattle merchants were responsible for the crash in price in Taraba State.

According to him, those selling meat and suya have not reduced their prices although they usually buy cows and goats at lower prices in the cattle markets.

He said meat consumers and cattle breeders were at the receiving end and being exploited by cattle merchants who buy at the price they determine and sell meat at high prices to consumers.

Reports across cattle markets in the state indicate that thousands of animals are brought weekly but the business has suffered setbacks because of price bargaining tactics introduced by merchants, who are always at an advantage.