(19 Jul 2019) LEAD IN:
Just weeks before the celebration of Eid al-Adha, the price of sheep is soaring in the markets in Guinea.
Known as the "Festival of Sacrifice", many families purchase sheep and goats around this time.
STORY-LINE:
The markets of Conakry are full of sheep and goats, ready to be purchased for the sacrificial festival of Eid al-Adha, also known in Guinea as Tabaski.
Prices vary, but one thing is for sure... the costs are going up.
"As you know very soon is the Tabaski. We have prices for the poor people and we have prices for the rich men, everybody with his own price. All this is because of the transportation and the food we feed them," says one sheep seller, Alousine Barry.
The adverse economic situation in Guinea means purchasing power is low.
Yet market sellers say they have no choice but to keep on putting prices up, since wholesale prices are high as well as the costs of transport and food.
They also get heavily taxed for transporting sheep through the dams and face customs charges too.
However another seller, Mamadu Barry, says he still tries to keep them affordable for people:
''I'm here to help the general public who are in need of a sheep for the Tabaski. I always sell at a good price so that people cannot run away from me. We are selling the sheep for the general public, that is my objective," he says.
Sheep here can sell for well over two million Guinean Francs (216.68 US Dollars).
Bouba Summah is a businessman who managed to afford to buy a sheep early in the day:
"This is the best time to buy a sheep. If you wait very close to the day of Tabaski a sheep like this will cost you two million, five hundred thousand Francs (300 US Dollars) so this is the best time," he explains.
The date of Eid al-Adha varies each year, but in 2019 will begin in the evening of 11 August and end four days later on 15 August.
Today some people are leaving the market unable to afford a sheep, unsure whether they'll find enough money before the festival begins.
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