(ERGO) – Mohamud Abdi Hussein, 70, started selling off his last remaining 25 goats this week at rock bottom prices in Hudur market in order to keep his family alive.
“I took five goats to the market on two consecutive days and sold them at just $5 each,” he said. “As I can’t get water and pasture for the animals I am forced to get rid of them so we can use this small amount of money to survive,” said Mohamud, who provides for his wife and seven children.
A few months ago the average price of a goat was $50, but the drought in this part of southern Somalia’s Bakool region has taken its toll on the health and value of the livestock.
According to Radio Ergo’s reporter in Baidoa, a growing number of drought-affected nomads have been flocking to Hudur town in search of food. Food prices have risen as a result. The district has suffered from a food shortage since the town came under Al-Shabab siege more than two years ago.
Rice and sugar have risen from 22,000 Somali shillings ($1) to 35,000 Somali shillings ($1.5) a kilo, while three litres of cooking oil has risen from 115,000 Somali shillings ($5) to 130,000 ($5.6).
Mohamud, who fled from Halul village in Elbarde district, has been staying on the outskirts of Hudur at Ted for the last 10 days. The place received some rain two weeks ago but herders flocked to the area and quickly finished the little water in the pans.
“When I reached here, there was nothing left,” Mohamud said. He has lost 25 goats and eight camels to the drought in the past seven months.
He used to support his family by selling a camel for $980 every few months. But now the price of a camel at Hudur livestock market has fallen to $180.
Dek Mohamud Iftin, Hudur’s deputy district commissioner, told Radio Ergo that some herders keep returning to the livestock market several days in a row hoping to find buyers for their skinny animals. Those settled on the outskirts of Hudur are able to walk with their animals but there are many pastoralists in remote rural villages whose animals are too far away and weak to walk.
There are many dead animals on the sides of the road between Hudur and the outlying villages. These are animals that died whilst being driven to the market, according to Noor Islam Korane, a pastoralist. He brought 50 goats from Elbarde to Hudur to sell, but is yet to find a buyer.
