Guinea-Bissau Beef

Facts about beef in Guinea-Bissau

• People used to assume that increasing wealth would lead to decreasing bush-meat consumption. Looking at the customers here I now think the opposite. These are not poor people and monkey meat is not cheap. Monkey meat in Bissau is not a necessary source of protein – or even a semi-treat. Monkey stew seems to be a luxury for the well-off.
• Despite much of Guinea-Bissau’s bush-meat- including primates- being consumed in rural areas where it is seen as a ready- and relatively cheap- source of protein- a growing taste for monkey meat amongst better-off diners in urban areas is driving a more commercial trade
• Mixing agriculture with herding- the Fulakunda consume grains and milk as their staple foods. Meat is seldom eaten. In fact- only during important formal events- such as the naming ceremony or at the birth of a first son- is beef consumed.
• Guinea-Bissau has about 13 kg/person/year meat consumption as of 2002 and raised up to 15.4 on 2007.
• The latest meat consumption report of FAO says that about 28.4 MC was noted for Guinea-Bissau.