The owners proudly display their cattle as traders move among the stock and both looking for one thing—profit. Standing in the paddock in Gbindi Sunday morning, I witnessed the international livestock market.
Cattle, goats and sheep representing Guinea, Mali and Sierra Leone are brought to the Gbindi paddock each Saturday to begin the weekly weekend affair—most traveling by foot. The facility was built by the government with assistance from Germany. It’s basically a holding pen with brick walls to deter theft. The livestock are tied to posts for exhibition as the traders and owners negotiate a price. Here’s the lowdown of Sierra Leonean livestock market:
Owners sell to traders
Traders pay to have animals shipped to Bo or Freetown
Traders sell to butchers
Butchers sell to consumers
Once the cattle are out of the owner’s hands (with Monday being the last day of the market), they are held until Wednesday and are then shipped out on trucks, each carrying around 45 head. There is a group called the Cattle Traders Union that advocates on the trader’s behalf. The union secures trucks for the traders to move the cattle to Bo or Freetown at a costs of Le80,000 ($20) and Le60,000 ($15) respectively. It wasn’t that long ago that the cattle had to walk their way to Kabala to meet the trucks…about 30 km…now its maybe just a few kilometers. Though the initial hardships are reduced, the road from Gbindi to Kabala, the one best traveled by motorbike, is still a rough ride for the cattle.
During the trade, I had the opportunity to interview local farmers. It was a tiring process going to Jesse who interpreted, but I got some great insight to the industry. Here are some tidbits from two of the interviews:
Mrs. Tindankay Shaw is a small ruminant farmer who considers herself poor with a small herd of seven sheep. They are a source of livelihood and sold to support the family when they need medicine, food and to pay for the children’s school fees. Slaughtering the sheep is expensive in the sense that with the profit, less expensive food can be purchased that will go a lot farther in feeding the family. Care for the herd is done in shifts because they are grazed extensively. She takes the sheep out to graze when the children are at school, and they relieve her when school lets out. She is from the Fula tribe who are predominately cattle producers and rear small ruminants, so raising sheep was learned from childhood. “It’s part of us,” she said. It is typical for the husband to procure the animals and then drop them off at the home for the wife to care for. However, she decides when a lamb must be sold and the husband carries out the task.
Mamaya Barrie is a “youth” rancher at the age of 48. My confused look must have brought on the explanation that since ranching is an expensive endeavor, this is the youngest age group to own cattle. In addition to his 50 head of cattle, he is a cereal rice farmer and a butcher—all which go to support his two wives and nine children. He established his ranch by exchanging rice for a bull calf or heifer and continued this until he established his “seedstock” herd. He pays a herdsman to take the cattle to find grass and water each day. Mr. Barrie usually castrates young bulls with a Buddizo, a local tool, but since it is broken he resorts to using a stick to rupture the spermatic cord. (painful, maybe?) As a butcher he purchases animals to slaughter at 8 calves per week, but business is slow these days so he kills around 2 per week. He said that cattle theft is very common even in town…and the paramount chief isn’t even protected from the cattle crooks.
A question that kept coming up for me was, “If the industry is growing, and Sierra Leone has ample resources to support it, why then is the majority of meat consumed still imported form Guinea or Mali?” The livestock industry is just one more thing recovering from the war that nearly wiped out every cow, sheep and goat. Restocking programs from the government and NGOs helped to rebuild herds, but it takes time. From the university people I work with to Ministry of Agriculture employees I’ve met, the drive is strong to see Sierra Leone’s livestock industry thrive.
Cattle, goats and sheep representing Guinea, Mali and Sierra Leone are brought to the Gbindi paddock each Saturday to begin the weekly weekend affair—most traveling by foot. The facility was built by the government with assistance from Germany. It’s basically a holding pen with brick walls to deter theft. The livestock are tied to posts for exhibition as the traders and owners negotiate a price. Here’s the lowdown of Sierra Leonean livestock market:
Owners sell to traders
Traders pay to have animals shipped to Bo or Freetown
Traders sell to butchers
Butchers sell to consumers
Once the cattle are out of the owner’s hands (with Monday being the last day of the market), they are held until Wednesday and are then shipped out on trucks, each carrying around 45 head. There is a group called the Cattle Traders Union that advocates on the trader’s behalf. The union secures trucks for the traders to move the cattle to Bo or Freetown at a costs of Le80,000 ($20) and Le60,000 ($15) respectively. It wasn’t that long ago that the cattle had to walk their way to Kabala to meet the trucks…about 30 km…now its maybe just a few kilometers. Though the initial hardships are reduced, the road from Gbindi to Kabala, the one best traveled by motorbike, is still a rough ride for the cattle.
During the trade, I had the opportunity to interview local farmers. It was a tiring process going to Jesse who interpreted, but I got some great insight to the industry. Here are some tidbits from two of the interviews:
Mrs. Tindankay Shaw is a small ruminant farmer who considers herself poor with a small herd of seven sheep. They are a source of livelihood and sold to support the family when they need medicine, food and to pay for the children’s school fees. Slaughtering the sheep is expensive in the sense that with the profit, less expensive food can be purchased that will go a lot farther in feeding the family. Care for the herd is done in shifts because they are grazed extensively. She takes the sheep out to graze when the children are at school, and they relieve her when school lets out. She is from the Fula tribe who are predominately cattle producers and rear small ruminants, so raising sheep was learned from childhood. “It’s part of us,” she said. It is typical for the husband to procure the animals and then drop them off at the home for the wife to care for. However, she decides when a lamb must be sold and the husband carries out the task.
Mamaya Barrie is a “youth” rancher at the age of 48. My confused look must have brought on the explanation that since ranching is an expensive endeavor, this is the youngest age group to own cattle. In addition to his 50 head of cattle, he is a cereal rice farmer and a butcher—all which go to support his two wives and nine children. He established his ranch by exchanging rice for a bull calf or heifer and continued this until he established his “seedstock” herd. He pays a herdsman to take the cattle to find grass and water each day. Mr. Barrie usually castrates young bulls with a Buddizo, a local tool, but since it is broken he resorts to using a stick to rupture the spermatic cord. (painful, maybe?) As a butcher he purchases animals to slaughter at 8 calves per week, but business is slow these days so he kills around 2 per week. He said that cattle theft is very common even in town…and the paramount chief isn’t even protected from the cattle crooks.
A question that kept coming up for me was, “If the industry is growing, and Sierra Leone has ample resources to support it, why then is the majority of meat consumed still imported form Guinea or Mali?” The livestock industry is just one more thing recovering from the war that nearly wiped out every cow, sheep and goat. Restocking programs from the government and NGOs helped to rebuild herds, but it takes time. From the university people I work with to Ministry of Agriculture employees I’ve met, the drive is strong to see Sierra Leone’s livestock industry thrive.
Joyful Journeys,
Julie
Checking out the livestock trade!
Most of the cattle were moved this way.
There was a small ruminant section.
A lot going on...
Waiting to be traded.
Negotiating?
Jesse talks to a farmer who wanted me to buy this little heifer.
Telling his story.
Interviewing.
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