RABBIT FARMING IN NIGERIA: PROS AND CONS
In Nigeria, consumption of animal protein remains low at about 3.0-6.4 g/head/day many years after the 13.5g/head/day prescription by the WHO (Egbunike, 1997).
Rabbit production is veritable way of alleviating animal protein deficiency in Nigeria (Ajala and Balogun, 2004). The rabbit has immense potentials and good attributes, which include high growth rate, high efficiency in converting forage to meat, short gestation period, and high prolificacy, relatively low cost of production, high nutritional quality of rabbit meat, which includes low fat, sodium, and cholesterol levels. It also has a high protein level of about 20.8% and its consumption is bereft of cultural and religious biases (Biobaku and Oguntona, 1997).
The raising of rabbits can be anything from a profitable hobby to a full-time living. Rabbits fit well into a balanced farming system. They complement well with vegetable growing. Excess and waste from vegetable gardens and kitchen goes to feed the rabbits, whereas their manure is used to fertilize gardens, thus forming a profitable cycle and aiding the balance of nature.
Raising rabbits can possibly provide extra income in your spare time. They can be sold to individuals, processors, restaurants, snake growers, pet stores, zoo’s etc. It can also be a wonderful hobby and provide good bonding time with family members. You can also produce your own nutritious and wholesome meat, as rabbit meat is considered the healthiest meat known to man. You should be able to save money, since your not having to purchase other meats at a higher price from the supermarket.
Rabbits require less space than large livestock. This is important, especially in areas where there is shortage of agricultural land. Rabbits, on a small scale, can be raised indoors; like garage areas or spare rooms. A substantial size rabbitry can be operated on less than one acre of land, as very little land is needed.
As far as labor, raising rabbits is less physically demanding than most other agricultural enterprises. It is estimated to take an average of 14 to 20 hours per year to care for 1 working doe and 14 to 20 hrs. per week to care for 100 does.
Additional income can also be made by selling stock to other people or by producing and selling earthworms. Rabbit manure can also be sold.
Rabbit urine is widely used in Kenya as a safer and cheaper means of fertilizing the soil. Farmers collect thousands of litters of this byproduct to sell to fertilizer plants. A litter of pure rabbit urine goes for $4 and is converted to good fertilizer through a process called nitrogen fixation, which has proven to be Eco-friendly, easy and cheap. The price of a bag of NPK fertilizer has since doubled, cutting down the yield and production capacity of most farmers in the country. From what I have learned so far, setting up a fertilizer plant that will convert rabbit urine into foliar is feasible in every L.G.A in the country because it is cheap and easy to set up. I have been using this fertilizer on my potato and maize farm with better growth and high yield as prove of success. If rabbit urine can be utilized in Nigeria like it is done in Kenya it will not only provide alternatives to the NPK fertilizer, it will create jobs. Youths can start raising rabbits for meat, urine and pelt, while investors can set up fertilizer plants that will buy rabbit urine, process and sell back to the farmers to increase the yield of their crops. This creates a very profitable cycle, and as the rabbits keep multiplying, more youths are engaged, more fertilizer is produced. Soon the problem of fertilizer in Nigeria will be history.
Rabbits are herbivores and will consume large quantities of forage (greens), which people do not eat and convert this forage into valuable meat for human consumption. Practically, rabbits can be fed anything from the garden, forest or kitchen including banana and papaya (paw paw) peels, pineapple cores, corn stalks, weeds, vines from pulses, leaves (cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, carrots etc. This indicates that unlike chickens, rabbits compete minimally with humans for grains.
Rabbits do not require routine vaccination or medication for the prevention or treatment of specific diseases. This is an important factor since, in other livestock species, a lack of appropriate drugs is sometimes a major constraint to successful production. When a disease does occur in rabbit farming, local remedies can often be effectively used in treatment. One common disease condition, referred to as ear mites and caused by an external parasite, Psoroptes cuniculi, can both be prevented and treated by applying drops of an oil-kerosene solution directly inside the ear canal. Vegetable oil, red palm oil and even clean engine oil may be used. For the control of digestive disorders, diarrhea and constipation for example, various medicinal herbs and green vegetables have been observed to provide similar therapeutic results in rabbits (Lukefahr and Goldman, 1985).
Does (female rabbits) can kindle (give birth to) up to 13 bunnies (young rabbits) at a time, the average being 8. A doe can easily give 40 or more offspring’s per year. To estimate the potential of meat production this number (40) is multiplied by 1 or 2 kg. Rabbits usually produce 6 to 8 litters in a year. With proper management, rabbits can be kindled intensively.
Rabbit business is surely a good business with lots of benefits that can get many people start the business with high hopes and expectations. However, as with other livestock, raising rabbits in Nigeria has been faced with some setbacks that I will discuss shortly.
The rabbit industry is not as developed as most of the other agricultural enterprises; it is therefore considered a high-risk investment. The market for purchasing your rabbits must be considered. It is important to have several buyers lined up before even considering the investment.
The beginner rabbit producer usually discovers management problems and maximum production is seldom achieved during the first few years.
Rabbit production is an everyday business with very few days off. The rabbits must be fed and watered daily.
Rabbit has appeal across many ethnic markets. Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Jews do not have religious prohibitions from consuming rabbit meat. However, because of their popularity as pets, there is one factor that is difficult to counter: the Easter bunny image and this is no thanks to Walt Disney.
Where rabbits are reared in cages, their forage must be gathered and distributed. Rabbits cannot seek their own food like other domestic animals if kept in cages.
Rabbit is not a customary item in the Nigerian diet. With some exceptions, Nigerians are not acquainted with this meat and are often reluctant to try it.
Technical personnel trained in rabbit production are lacking. Even if the owner of a small unit can manage with labour that is not skilled, a certain minimum number of technical operations need to be mastered. In addition, producers need to be assisted with the technical problems that can crop up periodically: health and reproduction problems and so on.
Making good use of the advantages offered by the rabbit implies knowing more about the animal: its requirements vis-a-vis the environment, rearing techniques and the products it supplies. Another prerequisite is the availability of motivated labour.
In the end, it is all about determination. You can do it. You can provide your family with a safe and healthy food source that you raised by working together. You can build a herd of meat animals that you can rely on in times of crisis. It will take determination when you see litters fail or you run into a health problem with your herd. It will take hard work to keep cages clean and the rabbitry organized. It will take management skills to coordinate breeding and sales. But you can get there. The first couple of years of raising rabbits are always the hardest. It takes longer than you might think to learn the ropes. But if you ever feel like giving up, keep going instead. You learn so much from the experience, that just when it is looking worst is often when it is about to get better.
When it comes to raising rabbits, anyone can be a winner.
