Rabbit urine opens income window for rural farmers

A few years ago, rabbit keeping was mainly a childhood activity in many households. They were mostly kept as pets and to provide meat. However, high returns in the venture have pushed many local farmers to tap the financial rewards that come with rabbit rearing.

A new farmer’s organisation has set up cottage industries in the Rift Valley and Kisii regions to manufacture organic fertiliser using rabbit urine, targeting rural communities. Kenya Com Rabbit Consortium Limited (KCRC), which was started last December, buys rabbit urine from farmers for fertiliser production.

Research conducted by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) shows that rabbit urine is rich in macro-nutrients needed by plants for nourishment.

“Farmers are already embracing the idea of supplying urine to our factories, a move that has also boosted rabbit keeping in these areas. Last month, we paid our suppliers in Kisii, Bomet and Eldoret more than Sh12 million,” said co-ordinating director at KCRC Agnes Sorim.

She said the organisation pays Sh350 for a litre of urine. The organisation has industries in Nairobi, Kipkorgot (Eldoret), Nyamataro in Kisii as well as Chengenwo and Kongasis in Bomet County.

To tap the urine, a rabbit coop is built in such a way that the urine seeps through a wire mesh onto a corrugated plastic sheets to a gutter that drains it into a collection bucket. “It takes three to four rabbits to collect a litre of urine per day through a specially designed hutch to enable the collection,” she said.

The organisation visits registered farmers at their farms where they collect urine, which is used to manufacture organic liquid fertiliser. The organic fertiliser can be used as folia feed as well as a soil conditioner. It is also be used as an insecticide during cultivation of vegetables and maize.

The fertiliser is mixed with water in a ratio of 200 millilitres to 20 litres of water and the mixture is sprayed on an acre of crop land. In May, the company produced its first product called Rabbit’s Urine Extra Organic Liquid Manure which is selling at Sh650 per litre.

“The organic processing takes one -and-a-half months to be ready for the market,” said Moses Lagat, a co-ordinator at KCRC. The organic liquid manure has been proved to greatly improve the structure, texture, water-holding capacity and humus content of soil.

Mr Lagat said they not only help rural farmers earn money from their animals, but also advise them to use dry feeds for the rabbits, which help in fattening the animal.

“Our business is to empower the smallholder farmer to produce their own organic fertiliser to boost food productivity and package the liquid fertiliser for local and international market,” he added.