Dr Demba B Jallow, director general of The Gambia Livestock Marketing Association (GLMA) has disclosed that butchers hardly pay their registration fee while farmers do not want to pay their cattle tax.
“We also face difficulty in registration and ensuring compliance, butchers barely pay their registration fee while farmers do not want to pay their cattle tax.
“The seasonal fluctuation in the price of animals is also a challenge since 70% of the animals that are slaughtered in butcher houses are being imported from neighbouring countries which makes it difficult to have a reliable supply of animals here especially when the dealers are very poor financially,” he said.
He said they conduct annually, livestock showground, during the Muslim feasts to enhance the marketing of livestock and the provision of rams to be affordable and reliable.
According to him, they determine the price of meat tariffs through consultative forums with dealers, butchers, stakeholders, securities, and local government authorities, for sustainability and realism.
“Part of our functions is to also collect fees from dealer permits paid to the consultation fund and collect cattle tax, which we recycle back to the farmer in the form of training, inputs, vaccination. The monthly subvention of the agency is usually limited to the effect that they may not be able to rehabilitate slaughterhouses or butcher shops,” he added.
Abdoulie Touray, informed the gathering that the poor financial status of the dealers is being addressed with a grant by the Small Ruminant project; “they are being supported to obtain cash to run the business.
