HOW TO START A SNAIL FARMING BUSINESS #AGRICULTURE #BUSINESS

If you wish to go into farming and you want to make good profit with little capital and still have your time to yourself, then snail farming is the answer you have been searching for. With a little capital, a little space, with a little patience, you will start reaping a reasonable amount of cash and the best part is you get to keep your current paid job.

Snail farming is beginning to enjoy a reasonable level of recognition in Nigeria. The local market and export potentials are very mouth watering, however like every other business, there are basic principles to be adhered to if you will succeed.

Snails are hermaphrodites i.e. they possess both male and female reproductive organs which makes it difficult to differentiate between a male and a female.

Snails contains a reasonable amount of the amino acids needed by man and is also rich in proteins, iron and low in fat. Snail slime is used by some for healing of ailments.

How To Get Snail Brood Stock

My grandmother got snails from the bush by sprinkling sweet fruits around a cleared portion. Fruits like banana, pineapple and pawpaw will do. It is most effective doing this exercise during the rainy season. A few hours after sprinkling, just go and pick up your snails. It is that simple. You could repeat the process until you get enough.

Snails love to hang around plaintain and banana plantation, during the rainy season, you can find them in abundance there.

Alternatively, you may buy from already established farmers who can give you quality snails that already have eggs.

As noctanal animals, snails are very active at night and they have a high sensitivity to smell. 

Some of the snails available are:

Achatina Fulica or The East African land Snail - known commonly as the giant African snail or giant African land snail.

Achatina Achatina or Giant Ghana Snail or Tiger Land Snail - common name the giant Ghana snail, also known as the giant tiger land snail.

Some of these snails can grow up to 20cm long, and live up to 10 years.

Industry Analysis

Snail is highly nutritious and recommended over red meat by health experts. Snail meat is low in fat, sodium and cholesterol, and high in protein, iron, calcium and phosphorus. Snail is considered the meat for the future. The rate  of infection and mortality for a snail is very low and a single snail can reproduce an average of 120 eggs 6 times yearly so the fear of restocking resulting from mortality is extremely low.

Constructing a snail pen is relatively cheap compared to other livestock. A 6m by 3m can accommodate more than 700 snails to maturity.

Snails are fragile and easily dehydrated. A humid environment favor them because exposure to much wind leads to loss of water, resulting in dryness of the animal. So you want to protect them from wind and direct sunlight.

The food that snails consume are easy to come by and inexpensive e.g pawpaw leaves, cocoyam leaves, tomatoes, banana, etc.

Marketing

The interesting part of the business is selling and actually see your cash roll in. Beer parlors, pubs, fast foods, hotels, restaurants will run over you in a bid to get your product.

Snails are prey to many animals, so they need to be adequately protected.

Benefits

Snails are loved by weight losers. Snail meat is very rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, vitamin E as well as vitamin C.

They are very low in calories and fat. Snail meat is also very beneficial to people suffering from cardiovascular diseases, cancer and people trying to recover from an injury.

There is a ready market for the product. The market experiences free entry and free exit.  

Snail feed is very easy to come by. You can get the leaves or get left over from fruit sellers.

Finally snail business is highly recommended espeially for people with low income and llittle space constraints. You will surely make good profits from this venture.