Rabbit farming, another underrated venture, just like beekeeping that I talked about in my recent post.
Read: World Bee Day: why you should get into beekeeping.
Rabbits have many uses beside keeping them for meat. And I think there’s scanty information out there on rabbit farming, the reason you don’t see rabbit hutches and structures in every other home you come across. Even in our school syllabus, they don’t give rabbit farming a lot of emphasis like they give cattle or poultry. This at the end of the day gives the impression to learners from a very tender age that rabbits have little value which is wrong.
Back in the day as a kid, I used to keep rabbits, but only as a hobby, feeding them entirely on vegetative matter especially weeds from our farms. From time to time we would slaughter them for food and whenever a customer showed up — which was always another kid from the neighborhood — we would sell and earn some little money for ourselves. As you can see even back then rabbits meant something to us, even though we knew very little of its value beyond meat and the few shillings we got from the sale.
A few years ago when I was in high school, there was this government initiative where households in Busia county were being encouraged to keep rabbits as there was a ready market for its meat in Europe, specifically France. We were told France needed many metric tonnes of rabbit meat. Many people were perplexed, who would want that much rabbit meat. But the few people who were already keeping rabbits even if it was just as a hobby were thrilled. Soon after, quality breeds like the California White, Flemish giant, even Chinchilla were introduced and people looked into the future with hope.
After that I don’t know what happened, the project never materialized. The initiative might have failed, but a seed had been planted in a few people including me. So after all rabbits were valuable, and even foreign markets were after its products. Rabbit farming was no longer a child’s activity but an opportunity for everyone who dared to tap into it.
Rabbit meat is one of the best, health-wise as you will come to learn when I will be mentioning rabbit uses. It’s a white meat, and on top of that its fat can be easily separated from its meat. Besides its nutritious meat, rabbits droppings can be used to grow rich organic crops, not forgetting its urine which is rich in Nitrogen. You can use the urine as a foliar feed or as an insect repellent on vegetables.
Rabbits, like bees, require very little space to keep, not unless you setting up a mega project. On feeds, unlike cattle or pigs, they can be fed only on vegetation which are mostly weeds from our farms. Of course you can feed them on pellets to supplement.
For Busia people and Western people at large, there’s no excuse why you shouldn’t have rabbits in your home. We have enough vegetation for rabbit feeds which you can find for free, unlike in other regions of the country like Kajiado for instance where there’s scarce vegetation. The rabbit can boost on the nutritional needs of your family and I’m sure the extra income from sales would be appreciated. I will leave you with some uses of rabbits.
Uses of rabbits
Rabbits have a variety of uses depending on the context—agriculture, ecology, research, and companionship. Here are some of the main uses:
1. Pets: Rabbits are popular pets due to their gentle nature, quietness, and relatively easy care.
2. Meat Production: rabbits are raised for their white meat, which is lean, high in protein, and considered a delicacy in certain cuisines.
3. Fur and Wool: Some breeds, like the Angora rabbit, are used for their soft wool, while others are raised for their fur.
4. Scientific Research: Rabbits are used in biomedical research due to their size, reproductive habits, and physiological traits.
5. Ecological Impact: In some ecosystems, rabbits help control plant growth or serve as a food source for predators.
6. Manure: Rabbit droppings are a rich fertilizer that can be used directly in gardens without compost.
7. Organic foliar and insecticide: As I had stated earlier, rabbit urine is rich im nitrogen which can be diluted with water and used for foliar spray. At the same time the urine’s pungent smell can be used to deter pests such as afids from biting crops.