Due to a drought, Tunisians trying to acquire a sheep to slaughter for Islam’s Eid al-Adha festival next week are paying much more.
As farmers bring their animals from the countryside to sell, small flocks of sheep eat on highway verges and empty lots in Tunisian cities and towns before the festival.
As costs climb by 25% when many Tunisians are struggling, the bleating that echoes throughout city neighborhoods as families feed animals on rooftops or gardens may be heard less often this year.
“The economy is horrible. “Everything has doubled in price, and my salary can’t get me through the month,” claimed Ridha Bouzid, who wanted to borrow money to buy his family a sheep for Eid.
Still, he worried about his finances as he compared the 900 dinars ($290) asking price for a sheep to the 750 dinars he spent last year for a similar-sized animal.
My monthly pay is 950 dinars. “What remains?” he asked.
Khaled Frekhi, examining sheep in the Borj El Amri market with his daughter on his shoulder, had avoided the expense this year. “We can’t afford these prices,” he stated.
Tunisia’s economy was already struggling before the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic, and with state finances on the edge of collapse, the government cannot fight worldwide inflation.
Failed rains have worsened farmers’ economic problems. Last year, many dairy farmers sold their cows due to rising expenses, causing a milk shortage for months.
In Borj El Amri, farmer Nabil Rhimi, 38, claimed the drought had completely damaged his wheat and barley crop, forcing him to buy animal feed for his sheep but barely able to pay a rise in fodder expenses.
He sold 200 of his 350 sheep because he could not feed them. “If the situation worsens, I’ll sell them all,” he stated.
Rhimi’s company. Farmers Union official Khaled Ayari claimed Tunisia produced 1.2 million sheep for Eid in 2022 but only 850,000 this year. He stated the organization opposed sheep imports to safeguard farmers.
Haithem Jouini, a young farmer who inherited his flock from his father, said he often considered migrating. I’m heartbroken. Why can’t the government help? People suffer.”
