So many Nigerians keep it as their side hustles while the greater percentage of the farmers use it as a full time career, yet more want to flood into this lucrative niche in future times.
We have written a full detailed guide on how you can start cultivating or farming these bush animals such as rabbits and grasscutters to help you benefit positively and make huge profits.
However, before we start, let us discuss about the animals we can cultivate there.
Bush Animals You Can Cultivate As A Nigerian
How To Start A Successful Grasscutter Farming Business In Nigeria
Grasscutter farms are very lucrative, and if well managed can be generating more than N4 million annually for it's owner. The meat is heavily consumed in the Western Regions of Africa, and we have the grasscutter farmers who dominate these regions to thank.Now people are looking for ways to start their own lucrative grasscutter farms. We have written a layman's guide on how you can make good profit from the business.
Overview Of The GrassCutting Farming Business
Grasscutters are popularly known as 'bushmeats" in Nigeria, and better known as 'ewi' in the Eastern region of Nigeria dominated by the Ibos (Igbos). It is highly consumed in Nigerian homes, hotels, hostels, parties, restaurants, fast foods, 'mama-puts' and other eateries. It is sampled openly on the signboards of any eateries where they are served. Over 80% of non-vegetarians and meat consumers vote this meat as their favorite. They also make an amazing recipe when used to make peppersoups.Rearing of these little creatures is not so difficult as they are herbivores. They feed mainly on grasses and leaves which are readily available. The female grasscutters carry their pregnancies for about 140-150 days and they can give birth to offspring a maximum of two times a year. However, they cn deliver as much as 10 youngs at a delivery. The grasscutters grow to a maximum lenth of 720 mm and normally don't weigh above 4.5 mm when matured fully. You need proper feeding and also an adequate hygiene to successfully carter for the grasscutters.
Healthy mothers make health babies and so you should try as much as possible to take good care of the grasscutters. The males also need to be cared for properly because they are a major role players in their reproduction. After birth, the newly delivered are let to stay with their mothers for about four months and then separated into colonies. The males can star mating after about six months while the females start at eight.
Facilities Required To Run A Successful Grasscutter Farm In West Africa
There are some essential facilities you need to rear the grasscutters successfully and we will see them below:- Grasscutter pen: This houses the grasscutters and should have a different space for their feeding. They do not like eating where they sleep.
Also note that grasscutters can be grouped into colonies and no two males can be in one.
- Water Channel: You wull need adequate water supply to run the farm successfully. Also, when giving them water ensure to include an attractant to it.
- The grasscutter feeds: They eat a lot of grass ie the Napier grass and the Elephant grass. You can also feed them sugarcanes. I guess this answered the question, "what do grasscutters eat?"
They can also be fed with corn bran, wheat bran, groundnut pellets, maize shucks, oilseeds, cotton seeds, etc. Barks of some fruits like PawPaw, Mango, Plantain and Cassava can be used as feed. Leftovers can also be fed the animals.
Feasibility Study Of The Grasscutter Farming Business
We will do our feasibility study with two colonies (2 males and 6 females).All currencies are in the Nigerian Naira and you can check the value in other currencies.
Now, a matured Grasscutter is sold at
You can construct your pen for about N10,000 and feed them for eight months ar
Their water will take about
This will total all to
If the 6 females deliver 7 children two times a year, it will be 14 children for each, making it 6 X 14 = 84 baby grasscutters.
If you sell off 6 of them in order to keep the remaining 24, you make a total of N5,000 X 60 =
Now increase the ratios to maximize profit.
What Are The Risks Involved In Grasscutter Farming Business?
There are so many risks but the greatest are the snakes and the soldier ants. Make sure your pens are constructed to protect them from these two dangers and also the adverse weather conditions.Bush meat is on high demand so you should also keep it far from human predators. Make sure you are security conscious as much as possible.
Where You Can Sell Your Bushmeats and Grasscutters
Selling is is not an issue because a golden fish has no hiding place. You can contact buyers online or offline. You should set up a signboard so people will know that you have them available. You can also contact fastfoods, eateries, 'mamaputs', hotels and any other prospective customers. You might also need a business website to stay above competitors (contact us for one).This business can fetch you a lot of money if well managed and isn't capital intensive. If you do it wrongly, you might suffer business severe losses. Please make sure to contact some close friends and relatives and make good researches before embarking in it.
See next:
- How to prepare an amazing fried rice.
- How you can become a millionaire from selling akara.
- How to start a successful barbing saloon business in Nigeria.
- How to start a successful provision store business in Nigeria.
- How to start a successful Ugu farm in Nigeria.
- 10 best business opportunities for Africans (Must See)
Source: InfoGuideAfrica.com
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