Ram sellers lament scarcity, poor sales as E-d el-Kabir draws near

Findings showed that this year’s celebration may be done with few rams as sellers are lamenting scarcity, soaring prices and poor sales, caused by the insurgency in the North-East and poverty, among other factors. Our reporter visited the Mararaba ram market, near Abuja, and spoke with some of the ram sellers who have predicted that […]

Findings showed that this year’s celebration may be done with few rams as sellers are lamenting scarcity, soaring prices and poor sales, caused by the insurgency in the North-East and poverty, among other factors.
Our reporter visited the Mararaba ram market, near Abuja, and spoke with some of the ram sellers who have predicted that prices will increase more than ever witnessed as many of the traders who brought the rams have been scared out of the business.
Many of the sellers complained bitterly, saying that the business has dwindled so much in recent times so that even with the little available, sometimes, they hardly got a single buyer.
At the Mararaba ram market, most of the traders became antagonistic when this reporter sought to know more about the market situation. One of them furiously asked, “how many buyers did you bring for us?”
A middle-aged man,  Malam Yakubu Salihu, who sells rams in the market, told Daily Trust that their market which used to be filled with a variety of rams has dried up, and to worsen the situation, buyers are not forthcoming, thereby crippling the business.
“As you can see, the market is empty. Did you meet any buyer here? And since you came in, have you seen any buyer coming into the market? We are very hungry, some are sleeping while others are discussing their worries. There is no money. Please, tell the government to help us,” he lamented.  
Another ram seller, Malam Mohammed Sanusi Yunusa, equally disturbed by what he described as the worst ‘bad market’ he has seen since he started the business, said “we no longer get rams from neighbouring countries. The few you see here come in from Bauchi and Katsina.”
He continued: “What I can say is that for now, the situation we find ourselves is –  no ram, no buyer. The government needs to do something to save the situation.”
Pointing at a man sitting beside him, Malam Yunusa told our reporter, “this man you see here is an Alfa. We invited him to come and pray for us because the trouble is so much. If this situation persists, we will find things very difficult.”
He said none of the sellers was bothered by the price of the rams at present as scarcity and poor sales have overshadowed almost everything.
However, our reporter gathered that even as the ram sellers say buyers were hard to come by, ram prices which are expected to climb higher, now range between N30,000 and N90,000 depending on size of the animal.