By Ibrahim Mohammed Saani
Ashaiman, Dec. 14, GNA – The livestock pens at Tulaku in Ashaiman are loaded with cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats brought in from the northern parts of Ghana, Volta, and the Ashanti Regions and Burkina Faso ahead of the yuletide.
Ashaiman, noted for many other things, also stands out as a livestock hub, which serves as a convenient market for people who want to celebrate any occasion Christmas, birthdays, and Muslim festivals to easily get livestock at an affordable price.
The Tema News Agency Pre-Christmas market survey at the Tulaku Livestock Market at Ashaiman observed that in anticipation of good patronage, dealers were ready with livestock for consumers.
Alhaji Moro Sulemana a dealer of goats, sheep, and cows told the GNA that sales picked up in the first week of this month.
He said there were customers who bought and prepared it for sale in shopping malls and supermarkets and those who bought to give it out as gifts were usually the early bird customers.
He said they studied the market trend before bringing in the livestock to ensure that they were not kept in the pen for a long time, to become an additional burden in terms of feeding, “your livestock should not stay in your pen more than four weeks.”
Alhaji Sulemana said the livestock market was ready to meet the demand of the public and invited patrons to the Ashaiman Livestock market for affordable animals.
Baba Ali Abdul-Aziz Ibrahim a cattle dealer said “I believe the economic situation in the country is the reason why people are not coming to purchase, but we are ready to receive them in the coming weeks.
“It is not so different from other times when we expect that market will start early and they do not”.
They however mentioned that their challenges are at the point of buying from outside the shores of the country we transact business in CFA franc which makes it expensive.
Mr. Musah Moro Azure who buys his animals from Burkina Faso said “I buy my cows at Putinga in Burkina Faso and because the cedi has depreciated so much I only exchange about GHS2,000.00 for CFA1,000.00 So prices need to be adjusted so that I do not lose”
“It is however not true that we increase prices in December deliberately just like there has been no time that we go buy the animals and prices are the same. They always go up so we need to adjust our prices upward,” he said.
GNA observed that trading at the Ashaiman livestock market has no defined method.
Buying depends on your bargaining abilities and the approach – those who appear affluent most often get things at a higher cost.
The prices of goats and sheep range from GHS1,500.00 and above while cows go for GHS6,000.00 and more.
GNA