By Fatima Muraina

Cattle dealers in Akure, Ondo state capital have lamented rising prices of cows which  they said  has negatively affected  patronage of their business.

The General Treasurer of Akure Cattle Dealers Association, Alhaji Adamu Hassan made this known in an interview with The Hope at Sango, along Igoba road, in Akure North local government area of the state.

Hassan attributed the low sales to the poor exchange rate of the Naira  with the dollar.

According to him, this development led to drastic reduction in the number of cattle that are brought to the state and the country at large.

The unfolding event, Hassan stressed, had also made Chad, a country where Nigerians go for  cattle  to seek for customers in other neigbouring countries such as Cameroon.

Declaring that they do not sometimes make any profit from their business trips to Chad, Hassan said they were now forced to get their cattle from Kano, Nigeria.

This invariably increased the prices of cattle in the market. A big cattle which was  sold for N200,000  is now sold at the rate of N360,000  while the smallest cattle which was N60,000 is now N 80,000.

The high cost of cattle, he said, had also affected the number of customers and the butchers who patronise them .

While stating other challenges faced by the cattle dealers, Hassan appealed that the state government should extend loan facilities to them without collateral with the promise that they will repay.

He said government should provide security for them by building a police station in the market to help secure their sales in the evenings and at weekends till when banking halls will open on weekdays.

He also urged government to provide security lights and potable water for them at the market which he said are their  major challenges.