Al-Hasakah – Majd al-Salem

The drought and lack of rain experienced in al-Hasakah over the past months have led to a decline in buying and selling of various types of livestock. Traders and livestock breeders have complained about the stagnation in local markets.

Livestock breeder Samer al-Hussein (40 years old) goes almost daily to the livestock market (locally known as Alwa al-Ghanam) in Tal Hamis, south of Qamishli, intending to trade the herd he owns. However, each time he only sells a few heads of livestock, and sometimes he returns with the herd intact.

The breeder told Enab Baladi that traders “are afraid of the current lack of rain,” which results in fewer natural free pastures and rising feed prices, leading to a decrease in livestock prices due to a lack of demand, and consequently, exposing them to continuous financial losses.

Feed monopoly

Enab Baladi has observed a rise in feed prices in general. Khaled al-Mahmoud (50 years old), who works as a broker (dalal) in the livestock market in Tal Hamis (a dalal is a person who facilitates the sale between the buyer and seller for a certain percentage), stated that some feed traders have started to monopolize the feed material to increase its prices even more.

He added that this has negatively impacted the traders’ willingness to buy a larger number of livestock, while transactions of buying and selling (not involving traders) are limited to a few heads of livestock.

Regarding feed prices, traders told Enab Baladi that the price of a ton of bran is 2.5 million Syrian pounds (220 USD), a ton of white straw is about one million Syrian pounds (87 USD).

The price of a ton of barley is about 3.5 million pounds (305 USD), and a ton of dry bread is three million pounds, not including transportation and handling costs, while feed prices were about half of the current value less than two months ago.

Rain affects prices

Broker Khaled al-Mahmoud added to Enab Baladi that livestock breeding and the extent of demand for trading them are linked to rainfall rates in the region, as this sector, which is a source of income for many residents, is affected “by what the sky provides.”

Hussein al-Dard (54 years old) from the village of al-Harma south of Qamishli owns a herd of livestock. He told Enab Baladi that breeders rely on regular customers to sell their livestock, as traders are currently stopping buying and selling despite lower prices.

He noted that each head of sheep currently consumes about a kilogram of barley and three kilograms of straw daily, which is very costly and “makes the feed more expensive than the sheep.”

Regarding current prices, according to what Enab Baladi learned from sheep breeders, the price of an ewe with her lamb ranges between one million and one and a half million pounds, a head of goat costs one million pounds, and a ram is about three million pounds, adding that prices have decreased by 40% compared to before.

According to livestock breeder Hussein al-Dard and other breeders speaking to Enab Baladi, the sheep breeding sector suffers from a lack of support for feed. Each village or area with sheep breeders registers for feed through the commune associated with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), amid promises to provide it “but to no avail.” It is noted that there is a price difference of about 50% between feed in the free market and that supported by the Autonomous Administration, as the administration provides ten kilograms of feed for each head of livestock only once a year.