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Farmer stirs community’s appetite for rabbit meat and trade
Mr Peter Njogu feeds rabbits at his home in Nyeri Town. The farmer, who started with two rabbits, now has 60 in his hatches as demand grows for his products. Boniface Mwangi
At 68, Peter Njogu is probably the oldest rabbit keeper in all of Nyeri County where the business is considered a preserve of the young.
A former councillor, Mr Njogu started rearing rabbits after he was involved in a road accident which made him too weak to continue with his hotel business. His aim at the time was to have a ready source of meat for his own consumption but he quickly realised that he could turn his new-found hobby into a business.
His farm was next to the Nyeri Health Centre and curiosity would drive some of the patients to walk over to his farmtto find out what he was up to. That was when the idea of selling rabbit meat occurred to him.
“Although it was difficult for me to convince the elderly that rabbit meat is good for consumption, a few agreed to buy with others concluding that I was losing m mind,” he recalls.
But Mr Njogu did not give up. He instead added more rabbits in his more than 10 hutches.
Today, he has more than 60 rabbits although he only started with two— a buck and a doe— all New Zealand White breed. After several months, he says, the doe got 16 kits and since he did not know much about rabbits rearing, he was compelled to seek veterinary assistance. As a result of his hard work, he was awarded first prize after one of his buck was declared the champion during this year’s Central ASK show. He says he also got an opportunity to chat with President Kibaki when the Head of State toured his stand.
“He asked me a very simple question: “Does it make money?” And when I told him yes and explained to him a little bit, he was very happy and encouraged me to go on,” says Mr Njogu popularly known by many in Nyeri as “Maisha”.
The old farmer has been participating as a local exhibitor in several ASK shows for the last seven years.
After succeeding in this rare business “Maisha” was able to reopen his hotel in Nyeri where he also sells cooked rabbit meat.
He however says the greatest challenges rabbit farmers face are incurable diseases that attack the animals and lack of feeds.
“We hope the veterinary department will stop this menace which has wiped out quite a good number of rabbits in Nyeri region,” he says.
He is also asking agricultural extension officers to carry out a massive campaign to educate people on the importance of rearing rabbits adding that for such an activity one only needs a small space to set up the hutch.
According to the Central Provincial Director of Livestock Mary Kanyi, rabbit-keeping has continued to grow across the province. Previously regarded as young men’s hobby, attitudes are changing and adults are forming groups to develop this enterprise.
Food security
Due to increased food insecurity and vigorous promotion of the enterprise coupled with demand from local hotels and tourist menus, many farmers have shown interest in the sector.
Ms Kanyi says lack of good breeding stock and negative traditional attitudes are being addressed through rabbit promotion exhibitions and field days.
This has resulted in increased consumption of rabbit meat.
The approach also involves training on value addition in the primary products and campaign at barazas or public meetings. According to Mr Njogu, the price of a kilogramme of rabbit meat ranges from Sh300 to 500 across the province but a breeding doe or buck can cost as much as Sh5, 000.
There are no butcheries for rabbit meat hence most of the rade and consumption is at household level but a number of hotels offering rabbit menus have come up in the area, raising demand for the delicacy.
Uchumi Supermarket had an agreement with Nyeri farmers to provide it with 800kg per month of rabbit meat but they are unable to meet this demand since the number of farmers rearing rabbits is still low.
The father of five notes that even those rearing rabbits do not keep them in big numbers due to lack of feeds, enthusiasm and lack of information on how to go about it.
“We currently can only produce 150kg per month. This is far too low to meet supermarket orders,” says Mr Njogu.
The supermarket has contracted Rabbit Association of Kenya, Thika to get the meat from farmers.
“The big challenge is source of high quality breeding stock and this should be addressed to sustain the high demand ,” he adds.
Ms Kanyi says mature does comprise 20 per cent of the rabbit population in Central region, kits make up 45 per cent while weaners are 30 per cent.
The number of rabbits in the region have continued to increase over the years as farmers take up production and market becomes available.
There are no stations for breeding rabbits in the province. Markets available are from farmer to farmer and a few local hotels. However, Mr Njogu says marketing would be easier if the farmers can come together and form associations to lobby for better services.
According to Ms Kanyi, the high cost of rabbit pellets is discouraging many would- be farmers who want to start keeping rabbits and urged companies that manufacture feeds to come up with a way of lowering the costs of pellets.
“Inadequate training and lack of technical information is affecting the production of rabbit meat in the region and this calls for farmer-training training in animal husbandry,” adds Ms Kanyi .
There are six breeds of rabbits kept in Kenya which are New Zealand White, California White and Chinchilla, Ear lop, Kenyan White and Angolan White.
