How to Start Snail Farming in Nigeria

Are you thinking of starting snail farming in Nigeria? Read this article to the end. In this article, you will learn the steps you need to start profitable snail farming in Nigeria. Snail farming in Nigeria is a common expression of Heliciculture, which is the process of raising edible land snails.

These small animals are primarily reared for human consumption, cosmetic use, and commercial purposes in Nigeria and all over the world. The meat and snail eggs as consumable which make them in demand in the market. With all these utilization of snails, one cannot rule out the fact that the snail farming business is not profitable.

In the course of this article, we will look at how to start a business in this agricultural field, the disadvantages of snail farming in Nigeria, general problems in the farming, the requirements, where you can buy cheap snails in Nigeria, how to rear snails in a bucket and more.

Why Should You Start a Snail Farm?

Here are good reasons why you should start snail farming in Nigeria: Snail meat is extremely delicious and nutritious. This makes them to be generally consumed everywhere in Nigeria. Snail farming has an incredible market in the country and in the West African areas. Homegrown snail farming can be a source of the family’s nutrition demand.

Setting up a snail farm in Nigeria by utilizing present-day technology, require less capital venture and produces much inside a brief period. Running costs is likewise extremely low. Snail farming business in the country can diminish the importation of frozen meat or fish from overseas.

Through snail farming, some additional pay can be made alongside satisfying the public need for meat. Also, the risk of loss is less contrasted with different kinds of animal farming businesses. That is one of the benefits of starting snail farming in Nigeria. Before we wind up, let’s take a peek at the gains and what’s really involved in snail farming.

What You Need to Start Snail Farming

Here are important things you need to succeed in Snail farming in Nigeria.

1. Get your Required Capital

The amount you will spend to start a snail farm depends on the scale. Going by estimate, you can start the business with ₦100,000 – ₦200,000 depending on this variable – the scale. If you would want to make the most in snail farming, you should invest more and go for commercial production.

After a survey was carried out on snail farming in Nigeria, the outcome showed that the business requires low capital investment and is highly profitable with gross margin and net profit of ₦612, 130 and ₦609, 630 per snail per cycle respectively. Also, the ROI was ₦3 (return on investment).

2. Buying Snails

The Nigerian market has a lot of snails that you can source for your farming business. If you’re inclined to quality, you can go for the local ones that are obtained from the forests, farms, and in the neighborhood. These snails are the best, but you will have to spend more to get quality products. Also, notable farms in the country have a lot of snails to buy from.

How to Start Snail Farming in Nigeria

Here are the steps on how to start a profitable snail farming in Nigeria. For starting snail farming in Nigeria, you need to go through some bit-by-bit process and get the business ignited. If you are interested in a business in snail farming, then follow the below instructions:

1. Acquire a Farmland or Space

In order to avoid your snails from being dehydrated, you need to get a good site. Dryness happens in snails because of the absence of a watery environment where they are living. A way of avoiding this is to go for an appropriate area for setting up a snail farm. A snail house, snail pen, or snaileries is ideal for keeping the snails from losing water from their bodies.

This should be set up in good atmospheric condition. A site with numerous trees can make an ideal climate for snail farming. You can build your snail pen or snailery in this area.

2. Choosing a Good Soil

A good snail farm is very important for your snail farming. The reason for this is that snails don’t have habitat in all areas especially ones that are depleted of water contents in the soil. Loamy soil is the primary environment of snails.

In order to have productive snail farming anywhere in the country, the chosen land for the farm should contain a portion of the moisturized soils and compound substances which are important for keeping the snails. Hence, a wide range of soils are not appropriate for snail farming; it is best to use humid loam soil.

The soil is a major influencer to the snail as the shell of the animal is primarily calcium and they determine the majority of the calcium from the soil. Furthermore, snails drink water from the soil and as well lay eggs on it. For effective snail farming, you will need to choose an appropriate area with the availability of these features for the snails.

The chosen soil should contain all the above components. Be that as it may, be cautious and keep appropriate equilibrium – making sure it is enough. Never let the soil become waterlogged, or too dry and it should not be that acidic. You should also endeavor to treat the loamy soil before using it for your snail pen.

This is to make sure all bacteria or viruses and harmful insects in the soil are killed. You can treat the soil by cooking it.

3. Build Snailery or Snail Pens

A snailery or snail pen is a small snail house that is preferable to rear small animals. Basically, you should have these small snail houses or snail pen because it is fundamental for snail farming in Nigeria. A decent snailery or snail pen keeps the snails protected and as well makes them productive.

In the event of rearing in a limited scope, snaileries or pens can change from a fix of fence-secured ground, protected from the breeze to a covered box. By and large, snails love to remain in cold and dim spots. However, keep the snails liberated from unsafe moisture levels. New leaves and fabric that are partially wet can be utilized for controlling the temperature of the area.

Another thing you should do in the snailery is to forestall the passage of harmful creatures like snakes, rodents, and some other hurtful animals. Wire is an incredible answer for fending those creatures off from your snailery or snail pen and the snails. You additionally need to get rid of some destructive small ones like termites and other harmful insects.

By controlling these harmful creatures from the snail farm, you will be able to rear the snails in the long run.

4. Getting Snails for Farming

Inasmuch as you can get the snails in your compound or from the market, it is always best to get from the best place for the best outcome. In order to get a productive snail farm to go well, it is prudent to get snails straightforwardly from the forest as opposed to purchasing from the market or better still buying them from another snail farm.

The reason for this is that those ones in the market may have been exposed to daylight and have got dried out. This is on the grounds that snails drink a great deal of water, so are effectively got dried out and this worries them, and decreases their productivity.

The intending snail farmer could pick the snails from the bramble with an exceptionally straightforward process. However, if you are starting large-scale commercial farming, it’s advisable to get these snails from trusted dealers at their snail farms. There are many snail farms in Nigeria.

You can search for them online, send a request and get snails delivered to your snail farm within 24 hours.

5. Feeding the Snails

The food of most snails (Archatina marginata, Achatina achatina, Achayina fulica, and many more) is organic products, green leaves, other vegetables, and fruits. Just like other farm animals, good food guarantees the appropriate development of the snails. If food assists the snails with developing their tissues and they likewise need calcium for growing their shells.

You can take care of your snails with a few leaves like cassava leaves, cabbage, cocoyam, eggplant leaves, lettuce leaves, okra leaves, or pawpaw leaves. If you are short of those ones, you can use natural products like bananas, cucumbers, eggplant, mango, oil palm natural products, pears, pawpaw, tomatoes, and so forth.

6. Harvesting of Snails

It is not financially insightful to harvest your snails when they are not done or fully grown up in snail farming in Nigeria. For the best outcome and productivity, they must be fully developed prior to harvesting. To know whether your snails are now developed enough, check the edge of the shell.

On the off chance that it is adequately grown up, the edge ought to be thicker and harder than other parts of the shell. Try not to harvest every one of the due snails immediately on the market. It is imperative to save not many for reproducing and to fill in as base stock for your snail farm.

On the whole, snail farming is very productive and you can harvest more than a dozen small snails from a grown-up one (depending on the snail species you want to rear).

7. Profits in Snail Farming

In the event that everything works out in a good way, the next thing you should do is market the snails and get your profit. By and large, within a year the vast majority of the snails arrive at promoting size. A few snails set aside more effort for growing. Nonetheless, the snail has a good market demand and their cost is also attractive.

You can undoubtedly sell the snails in your nearby market. Since snail is mainly needed for meat, the consumption rate is becoming extremely high. Thus, make the market gets more cash flow in the snail farming business. You sell your snails you can sell them to market women that deal in snails and directly to consumers.

Conclusion

Snail farming in Nigeria is completely a worthwhile business idea. This business isn’t much of a stress as the underlying speculation is low, required space or work is also low and you can as well do the snail rearing alongside with other works. If you are interested in starting this business, you need to visit some snail farms and also practice this article as important.

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