High demand raises price of donkeys in Jigawa

Prices of donkeys have shot up by over 200 per cent in Birniwa, Jigawa amid growing demand for the animals, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports.

Donkey is a domestic animal, with short legs and long ears, used by people as a means of transportation or conveying heavy loads.

They are popular in northern part of the country and served as cheapest means of transportation in rural farming communities.

A NAN check at Kumsa livestock market showed that prices have gone up by 200 per cent in the past one year due a significant increase in the demand for the animals.

A big size of the animal now sales for N60, 000 as against N20, 000 a year ago, while medium size ones attract as much as N30, 000 as against the old price of N10, 000.

Traders at the market attributed the hikes to increase in the demand for the animals.

Malam Zayyan Jarma, a trader, said that donkeys were in high demand hence the hike in prices, adding that the demand for donkeys had surpassed the supply.

He also said that the animals were in high demand in the southern part of the country.

The trade is lucrative. Buyers are willing to pay for higher price for well-bred donkeys to meet the growing demand in the south.

We transported about 500 donkeys to the south on weekly basis,” he said.

Another trader, Yusuf Kyari, however, said that the supply of donkeys to the market has dropped due to the insurgency in the northeast.

Yusuf noted that traders from Borno, Niger and Chad Republic were not coming to the market like before.

“The numbers of animals being supplied from Niger and Chad have decreased and it resulted in price hike.”

Malam Isa Modu, a farmer, expressed concern over the exorbitant cost of animals, noting that donkeys were now beyond the reach of peasant farmers.

Modu added that most farmers had resorted to ox-cart which was cheaper and readily available.

(NAN)