The availability of cattle at Kafur market may not be unconnected to the large concentration of Fulani nomads, peasant and large scale farmers in Katsina State who still live in peace with one another.
Cattle business has gradually dominated other businesses in the market to the extent that people now call the market Kafur cattle market instead of the usual Kafur market because of the upsurge in cattle business that has overshadowed other businesses in the market.
The market, which holds on Sundays, provides over 2,000 assorted cows on every market day.
Wakilin Sarkin Zango of the cattle section, Alhassan Umar, said the market is now the second largest cattle market in southern Katsina after Sheme.
He said the market is being supplied with cows by Fulani nomads and individual farmers especially in the months of July and August when farmers sell their farming cows to replace them with younger ones that they will groom for the next farming session.
Daily Trust gathered that a big bull in Kafur market cost between N200,000 to N220,000 while young ones sell for N45,000 to N60,000 depending on the breed and size.
One of the cow merchants, Malam Safiyanu, told this reporter that people patronise the market from Rivers, Edo, Lagos and many other states.
“In the past, only our people transport cows to the South, now southerners come in large numbers from Benin, Port Harcourt and Lagos with trucks to buy the animals. This gives us the opportunity to expand our markets as we uncover other opportunities.
“Some markets in southern part of Nigeria have lodging facilities and banks in them and that makes the transactions cheap and secure. We solicit for government assistance towards providing such facilities here as well,” he said.
