IVORY Coast shoppers faced soaring prices and tight supplies at Abidjan’s Adjame livestock market as they hunted for sheep ahead of Eid al Adha, AFP reports. The West African country relies on imports for about 75 per cent of its Tabaski livestock — roughly 350,000 sheep and cattle — from neighbours such as Burkina Faso and Mali, but export bans and insecurity have sharply reduced cross border flows this year.
Burkina Faso this month stopped livestock exports to protect its domestic market and Niger enacted a similar ban in March, while jihadist roadblocks in Mali have disrupted transport. Traders at Adjame said many animals remain stranded across borders: one seller reported 300 head stuck at the Burkina border, another said 150 paid for animals were held in Koutiala, Mali.
Several traders estimated supplies at about half last year’s levels. With availability limited, bargaining grew fierce and prices climbed: buyers said rams that fetched 200,000 CFA francs last year are now selling for at least 250,000- 320,000 CFA francs, and some vendors quoted 500,000 CFA. That surge comes against a monthly minimum wage of 75,000 CFA francs, putting sacrifices out of reach for poorer households.
AFP
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