PESHAWAR, Feb 17: The prices of lamb, sheep, goat, bull, cow, buffalo and camel have registered a sharp increase in the cattle market with the Eidul Azha drawing near.

It is said that previously lambs and goats used to come from Afghanistan, but as the border is closed and no animals are being brought across it, the prices have shot up.

The faithful are repulsed when they hear about the prices of the animals, which range from Rs2,500 for a small goat or lamb to as high as Rs16,000 for a bulky lamb, said Raza Khan, a 28-year-old herdsman from Mardan.

He was taking afternoon tea and haggling about the price of a lamb with a bearded man at his makeshift cattle pen near the Shama Cinema on Pajaggi Road.

The customer, Haji Jalil, accompanied by his three-year-old son, Salim Khan, went away grumbling about the high prices.

He offered Rs6,000 for the lamb which Raza was selling for Rs7,000. They could not strike the deal  as neither the seller nor the buyer showed any flexibility over the price.

Raza Khan, who said he had about 70 lambs at the site, asserted that  he would not settle for lower than Rs6,500, because he claimed that each lamb ate fodder worth Rs60 daily.

It comes to more than Rs 4,000 a day as I have some 70 cattle head here, he said.

Haji Jalil, who runs a cloth shop in the Saddar area, said he could not find a suitable lamb or goat since the morning.  

Zerullah, who was busy combing the long fleeces of his sheep, said he had some 200 lambs at the pen. More than 50 people have come since the morning, but no body bought any sheep, they just go away when they hear about the prices, he said.

Asked where from he had brought such a large number of animals, he said that they raised some, while some were bought at the weekly fairs held at different places in the province.  

About the exorbitant prices, he said that previously lambs and goats used to come from Afghanistan, but as the border was closed and no animals were coming this way, the prices had shot  up.

A young boy, Nasir, who was holding a goat from its tether, said that he had brought two goats from Ganj area. He said that he managed to sell one for Rs3,000, while the other was put at Rs3,000. While taking back the animal, he lowered the price to Rs2,500, but still nobody came forward to buy the animal.

Bakhtawar, 30, hailing from Shabqadar Dheri, who was herding three bulky goats, said the price of the three animals together was Rs18,000. He said he had bought the animals at a weekly fair for Rs15,000 a fortnight back.

The fodder expenses on the animals during the period come to more than Rs2,500, he said, observing that a small bale of fodder sells for Rs5 and a goat consumes about Rs50 fodder in a day. The profit we ask for an animal is quite justified, he said.

Two middle-aged buyers, a bank employee named Rehmatullah and Javed, a grocery shop owner, said they had been at the market for more than three hours, but they could not find a proper sacrificial animal. They also complained about the high prices of cattle and other sacrificial animals.

Marwat Khan from Shabqadar Dheri, who put his lamb at Rs9,000, said he had raised the animal and was looking forward to some prospective buyers, but nobody had turned up since the morning. The high prices of animals might be keeping the faithful away from the cattle market.

An Afghan refugee, Agha Mohammad Tajik, said he had brought a lamb and two goats to the market from the Siphon locality. The buyers come and inquire about the price and go away grumbling about the prices, he said.

The prices are high because sacrificial animals no longer come from Afghanistan and the people mostly prefer to share in the bigger animals like cow, bull, buffalo or camel, Tajik said.

Another buyer, Payo Khan, said that a share in a cow or a bull also costs around Rs4,000, then why he should not go for a lamb’s sacrifice. As long as the border with Afghanistan is closed and no animals come across, the prices would increase more sharply in the coming days.

A woman said she had come to buy a lamb but the prices were not affordable.

She said that she was fortunate enough that she had raised a couple of goats at home and if she did not find a proper lamb, she would slaughter them.