Rearing of snails can be a very productive pastime in
Nigeria. It needs little input in terms of human effort. The African giant land
snail is the common specie of snails in Nigeria, and luckily it is edible. Its
scientific name is Achatina fulica.
Starting up a backyard snail farm
relatively easy compared to other animal farms. In Nigeria costs should range
from about 500 naira to about 10,000 naira. Of course there is no limit to the
amount of capital used for start up. The advantage is this is a business that
can be started with a low as 500 to 1000 naira.
Snails are very prolific animal that lay eggs and they do
not need to mature before they start laying eggs. They usually are not affected
by diseases but may be attacked by insects that crawl on the ground such as
termites, ants etc. Just make sure the snail cage is really partitioned from
other areas
Since you literally do not o anything to set up a snail
farm other than to buy some small snails, keep them in a secluded moist area
and feed them leaves or starchy foods then it means you have a high turnover i.e.
high profit margin after sales.
Not all snail types grow up to become big. So make sure
before you buy baby snails at the market ask the trader for a specie that is
suitable for rearing. You will get snails in any of the big markets around.
When your snails are fully grown you can sell them back to
the traders you brought them from as babies or sell them to all the numerous
roadside food joints. You can also sell them to bigger retail foods outlets
like zartech but you would have to register your farm with the corporate
affairs commission to do that. It takes about six months for snails to grow to
maturity.
Warning: Snails must not come in contact with salt. Do not
give them food waste that contains salt in them.
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