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 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.
He said: “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.”
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.
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.