Rabbit Farming In Nigeria: See Best Modern Guidelines For Starters
Rabbit farming in Nigeria is a very profitable and lucrative agribusiness business venture for all entrepreneurs that are interested in animal husbandry or livestock farming. You don’t need lots of money to start rabbit farming in Nigeria. This has made starting commercial rabbit farming in Nigeria very easy to start.
See: Pig breeds best suited for commercial pig farming in Nigeria
Rabbit farming might not be as popular as that of poultry, fish, pig, goat, cattle, and snail farming in Nigeria. The business is already very profitable and intelligent and visionary agribusiness investors are already taking advantage of this great opportunity. For those of you asking questions like;
- Is rabbit farming profitable?
- What are the breeds of rabbit in Nigeria?
- What is the price of rabbit in Nigeria?
- What are the rabbit farming companies in Nigeria?
- What are the rabbit foods in Nigeria?
This article will provide you with answers to the questions above. There are numerous reasons why you should consider venturing into rabbit farming business in Nigeria today.
Reasons Why You Must Consider Rabbit Farming In Nigeria
Below are some of the many reasons why you should really consider investing your money in rabbit farming in Nigeria.
- The huge market opportunity for rabbit meat
Due to the growing rate with which people suffer from heart diseases and other related diseases, there is high demand for white meats that has low cholesterol content. The white meat of rabbit, poultry, and fish contains less cholesterol and fats thereby having higher health benefits. Rabbit meat is only second to fish in terms of the total amount of protein content. It contains the lowest amount of fats among the different classes of meat.
Rabbit meat also has less calories and sodium than other meats but contains the highest amount of calcium and phosphorus. These wonderful attributes of rabbit meat has made it to be in high demand among those that needs to live healthy lifestyle. There is no religion or cultural belief that is against the consumption of rabbit meat in Nigeria, unlike snail and pork meat.
As for their meat, rabbits are also needed in scientific, medical, and cosmetic research. Their skins are also used to produce fur garments.
Read: How to start layers poultry farming in Nigeria
The above point will truly open your eyes to the profit potential of rabbit farming in Nigeria.
- Rabbits multiply very fast
In a single year, a single doe (female rabbit) can give birth to about 40 kits. Amazing isn’t it? This simply means that you can just start your rabbit farming in Nigeria with just two mature breeding rabbits (male and female) and have more than 40 rabbits within one year. It takes between 30 – 33 days for a pregnant doe to give birth to her kits.
Aside from their high rate of multiplication, rabbits also mature very fast. It takes a young kit maximum of 6 months to mature and attain market size. Rabbits are high feed converters, thus the high growth rate.
Because rabbits multiply and mature within short time interval, it provides the opportunity to recover your costs and investments in short period of times as well.
- Easy and cheap to start, operate, and maintain
According to Moses Mutua (CEO of Rabbit Republic), the amount of money it would take to just raise single cow is equivalent to the cost of raising 40 rabbits in your farm. This tell you that you derive higher profit potential from rabbit farming in Nigeria than any other livestock farming in Nigeria.
You don’t need a huge capital to start rabbit farming business in Nigeria. Like I said earlier, you can actually start this agribusiness with just two rabbits (mature male and female). This is to tell you that starting commercial rabbit farming in Nigeria is very cheap. In terms of operation and maintenance, rabbits are very quiet animals and clean too. Unlike poultry farming and piggery, rabbit farming business is not too stressful to operate and maintain.
Another good thing about rabbit farming in Nigeria is that rabbits don’t require too much space. In fact, it is the ideal animal to rear in your backyard.
When considering capital, time, labor, space, rabbit farming in Nigeria is better than poultry farming, pig farming, and fish farming in Nigeria.
Starting Your Rabbit Farming In Nigeria
Before venturing into rabbit farming in Nigeria, you should do the things listed below:
- Conduct proper research on rabbit farming business in Nigeria
Here, you must learn all there is to learn concerning rabbit farming in Nigeria. Venturing into this agribusiness with very little or no knowledge at all will b very catastrophic for you. That rabbit farming business is easy to operate and maintain should not give you the impression that you can succeed without proper knowledge of the business.
You can locate farmers that are already into rabbit farming in Nigeria so as to understudy them very well, especially the successful ones among them. There are also many materials on rabbit farming in Nigeria that you can find online to guide you in this rabbit agribusiness.
- Start with good rabbit breed
Don’t make the mistake of starting your rabbit farming in Nigeria with just any rabbit breed that comes your way. There are different breeds of rabbit in Nigeria; you must start your business with the breed that is best suited for commercial rabbit farming in Nigeria.
It is these best rabbit breeds that multiply and mature very fast. There are rabbits that are suited for pets and those that are for commercial purposes, you must seek help at this point so as not to make a costly mistake that can crush you rabbit farming business in Nigeria.
- Get the services of a qualified veterinary doctor
When it comes to animal husbandry or livestock farming in Nigeria, the services of a qualified veterinary doctor is highly needed. This is not negotiable at all. The doctor carries out the regular checkup and vaccination. You can also get feeding and nutritional advice from the doctor as well.
Materials Needed For Your Rabbit Farming In Nigeria
Some of the basic materials that you will need as a first time rabbit farmer are listed below:
- Houses, cages or hutches
You need the above materials to house your rabbits. The cages, hutches or houses must be constructed in such a way that the rabbits are well protected from heat and humidity.
- Feeders and drinkers
The above equipment is needed for food and water. You can’t hope to start a rabbit farming business without feeders and drinkers.
- Rabbit feeds
There are different rabbit foods in Nigeria. The feeds may be edible leafy vegetables, elephant grasses, potatoes, and edible herbs or processed feed from rabbit farming companies. Rabbits feed can also be made up of quality pellets that are very rich in fresh hay, water, and fibre.
Hay is very essential to healthy development of rabbits. It provides them with roughages which aid in the reduction of hairballs and other deadly blockages.
- Breeders
As you read earlier, starting rabbit farming in Nigeria doesn’t necessarily mean you must start big. Your breeders can just be a mature male and female rabbits. If you have enough money, you can use one male to about five does (female rabbit). You should allow the kits (baby rabbits) to be with their mother until eight weeks of age. This is to allow them develop proper immune and digestive systems. If you are going to buy a kit, make sure that they are at least eight weeks of age because it increases their chances of survival thereby reducing their mortality to the barest minimum.
ATTENTION…
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