By MUHAMMED SAILU BAH
Ram dealers at various selling points within the greater Banjul area
highlighted some of the challenges they are grappling with respect to their
business as the Tobaski feast approaches.
Some of those challenges highlighted by the ram dealers include inadequate security for their rams. They also lamented the lack of lighting system in some of the“Darals” particularly Banjul as an example. Some of the dealers also
highlighted the New Tax system introduced by the Gambia Revenue
Authority GRA, i.e. the payment of an amount of D5000 which they said
affects them annually.
Going round to the animal selling points in Banjul, few rams were seen
at the “Darals” due to lack of light in the said areas.
Abou Sowe, head of the main “Daral” in Banjul disclosed that a lot of people prefer
going to other places such as Abuko and Westfield to sell their rams
to Banjul due to ack of facilities at the “DARAL.”
“At the “Daral” in Banjul, we don’t have light, so at night
thieves come and sneak with our rams,” he lamented.
He also highlighted the problems they face at the ferry crossing
points which results in their animals to loose weight or die.
“We sometimes spend a lot of time at the Ferry crossing points before
we can cross. Sometimes we use the boats to transport our animals. But this is very expensive because it costs D50 to transport a ram to Banjul by boat,” he noted.
Similar comments were reiterated by Biram Dem, a livestock dealer, who said the cost of transportation for
them to Transport their animals is expensive.
“Sometimes we trek with our animals from Amdalai to Barra, then
after crossing we trek to the Abuko “Daral. This is to minimize
cost of transportation.” Dem remarked.
At the West Field Daral, Alieu Sowe admitted business is
going slowly compared to previous years. He explained that, he came along with 112 Rams in which 3 were stolen,
and the rest are still with him after spending some days selling
“I have been coming to Gambia for many years whenever Tobaski
approaches; but we use to make a lot of sales after few days of our
arrival, but now it is different. I am from Senegal and that is where
I buy animals,” he explained.
He explained the difficulties they face to get a place to keep their animals at night. He said they use to speak with
compound owners who often charge them D20 per annimal per night,
which he said is very expensive.
