A black market for the fodder is thriving in the region where buyers are paying SR60 per bag against the market price of SR40 per bag, Al-Madinah Arabic daily reported.
Speaking to the newspaper, a number of livestock growers and investors said that they are facing an acute shortage of barley, which is the main livestock fodder. This has been mainly due to frequent interruption of supply at the fodder market in Rafha lately.
The investors receive only a limited quantity of barley when the product reaches the market at irregular intervals.
On a tour to the Rafha fodder market one can see long queues of more than 500 vehicles stuck along the road awaiting their turn to buy their quota of barley.
Ahmad Al-Shamri, a Saudi investor who owns more than 1,000 heads of sheep, said: “The arrival of five barley-laden trucks after a long gap is not sufficient to meet the huge demand. I need at least 35 bags daily to feed my sheep.”
According to Al-Shamri, the shortage of barley in the region has a direct impact on prices of other fodders, such as clover, a bundle of which now costs SR21.
Farhan Al-Shamri, another buyer, said: “I am forced to buy clover, as the main fodder for my sheep in the absence of barley.”
On his part, Ali Al-Shamri, another livestock dealer, blamed the fodder dealers for the flourishing black market.
“The failure of dealers in making available a sufficient quantity of barley and the lack of proper monitoring by the concerned agencies are the major factors for the thriving black market,” he said, adding that the traders are exploiting customers who are facing a tough and difficult situation.
Abu Khalaf, owner of a truck, attributed the disappearance of dealers from the fodder market in Rafha to insufficient supply.
“The trucks wait for about 10 days after crossing 1,000 km from Yanbu due to the delay in taking delivery of insufficient quantities of barley coming from Dammam,” he said.
Commenting on the issue, Saud Al-Otaibi, director of the branch of Agriculture Ministry in Rafha, said the role of his department is restricted to registering the prices and quantity of the product and then reporting it to the concerned authorities on a daily basis.
“Rafha has been facing acute shortage of barley for over two weeks,” he said.
