Snail Farming In Nigeria - Step by Step How To Get Started

Snail Farming In Nigeria - Step by Step How To Get Started

The giant West Africa snail called Achatina Marginata

Snail Farming in Nigeria is very lucrative, and many Nigerians are waking up to this business of snail farming . Apart from the fact that snail farm is easy to manage, snail farming does not require much technicalities or capital as snails can easily be picked around for the take-off. Snail farm is easy to setup - with little structure and little fund, you're good to go.

Hotels, Restaurants and other eateries are people that will constantly demand your supply. You could get standing orders from these group of people for the supply of snails to them at agreed times and rates and you know what that means?.. Constant money into your pocket.

The giant West Africa snail called Achatina Marginata is the most desirable specie for snail farming due to it's high yield capacity. There are other good species but I will focus on Achatina  Marginata  in this blog post because, it's easy to find in Nigeria. 

Achatina-Achatina is very good for commercialization as well, because of its profitability. This is because of the volume of eggs it lays at once. Each achatina lays 300 to 500 eggs at a time in clutches, three times a year. Therefore, if you start a farm with about 1000 snails, in one year you would be getting about 1.5 million snails going by the number of eggs they produces.

Having decided on the specie, let's take you through the step by step how to setup your snail farm in a small scale level and starts rearing your snail towards harvest.

1. Snail Farming Environment - Snails are easily dehydrated, and wind increase the rate of moisture loose in snail which in turn, leads to the dryness of the animal. To prevent snails from losing water so quickly, your snaileries (the snail house) must be located in environment that is protected from wind.

A low plain, downhill site surrounded with enough trees is perfect for snail farming. You may plant plantains and bananas around your snail farm to prevent the impact of wind.

2. Type of Soil For Snail Farm - Snail's major habitat is the soil, and soil contains some of the components and chemical substances that it needed to survive. However, not all soils are suitable for snail rearing. The shell of the snail is mainly calcium and it derive most of them from the soil. Snail also lay it's eggs on the soil and drink water out of the soil. 

Hence, the suitable soil for snail farming must contain these elements.  Must be balanced, not waterlogged, not too dry, and must not be acidic. The most desirable soil for snail is sandy-loamy soil with low water holding capacity. Clayey soil and acidic soil must be avoided.

3. Getting The Sails For Farming - To start up a snail farm, it is advisable to get snails directly from the forest instead of buying from the market after they have been exposed to sunlight and have dehydrated. This is because snails drink a lot of water, so are easily dehydrated and this stresses them out, and reduce their fertility capacity.

The intending snail farmer could pick the snails from the bush with a very simple technique; clear a little portion of land during rainy season and sprinkle spicy fruits like pineapple, pawpaw, plantain, banana etc at about 5o'clock in the evening, when you go back there about 7pm or 8pm, you will pick up snails suitable for rearing. Repeat the procedure until you get enough quantity.

Another way could be to pick up snail eggs littered in the market place where it is sold and through a technique, check the fertility of the eggs, because some of them must have lost fertility due to the exposure to sunlight. The eggs are later put inside a container containing wet sand and covered with cocoyam leaf. Between 21 to 28 days, the eggs would hatch into baby snails. You start feeding them and gradually you raise a snail farm."

4. The Snail House (Snailery) - Snaileries can vary from a patch of fence-protected ground, sheltered from the wind to a covered box if you are breeding in small scale. 

For larger population of snails, you can dug a trench or make a concrete pen with soil deep of about 10 inches, and cover it with screen or wire all around to prevent the snails from escaping. Remember that snails can reproduce fast and become pests when their breeding is uncontrolled. 

Snails love dark and cold places, but make sure the humidity does not drop to levels harmful to the snails. You can use fresh leaves and cloth that is regularly wet to regulate the temperature.

Also, the wire is useful in keeping away rats and snakes or other predators from eating the snails in your snail farm. But aside from these bigger predators, you should be wary about smaller ones like ants and termites. Your construction must have these predators in mind.

5. Snails Foods and Feeding - Snails especially Achatina mainly feeds on green leaves and fruits though they can utilize other ranges of foods. Feed your snails leaves, fruits, or even formula from the feed store. Aside from food to grow tissues, snails need calcium to grow shells.

Leaves: Cocoyam leaves, pawpaw leaves, okra leaves, cassava leaves, eggplant leaves, cabbage and lettuce leaves.

Fruits: Mango, eggplant, pawpaw, banana, tomatoes, oil palm fruits, pears. and cucumber.

Once they start growing, separate the big ones from the small ones. It take more than a year for the Achatina type to grow to harvest size. Others mature in two years. 

One million snails after a year or two sold at the rate of N50 each (highly reduced price) will give about N50 million! Isn't that a good investment?

Get the comprehensive Snail Farming set up eBook here. The ebook will serves as your guide and companion in your snail business.

 

 

SNAIL FARMING IN NIGERIA MADE EASY

When you see snails stick to a tree stump, hide under stones or leaves, what impression do you have of them? When you see them displayed in the market places, do you view them as one of those edible animals meant for the soup pot? Many people see snails here and there. Some people take it as meat. But quite a number don't know how to go about rearing them. This is made worse because snails, which belong to the family of animal called MOLLUSCA, is an hermaphrodite. It has both the female and male sexual organs; so one cannot really distinguish between the male and female specie of it. Many who rear snails in Nigeria are also unwilling to let others know about the farming methodology. The techniques are often shrouded in secrecy. But the plain truth is that snail farming is as easy as ABC. The only thing the snails may constantly demand from you is your attention and care. They hardly fall sick. You don't have to buy their food and you may not have to spend much to create an abode for them. The beauty of it all is that the snails reproduce rapidly. They are capable of producing hundreds of eggs, which hatch into snails. It is now possible to produce 1,000,000 snails worth more than N5 million twice a year. This is made possible because of the availability of very highly prolific ACHATINA ACHATINA species of snails, which lay 200-400 in one batch 2-3 times a year. Nigeria's economic recovery programmes have necessitated a radical shift from total dependence on government for job to self-employment. One such attractive area for self-employment is snail rearing. It is a great money-spinning business that can provide a substantial source of protein to complement Nigerian carbohydrate meals. Sadly Nigerians inclination to go into business in the fields where thousands have already made their fortune has led to the ulter neglect of such lucrative area of snail farming in Nigeria or export at international market. HUGE INCOME EARNING OPPORTUNITY One of the Personnal Entrepreneurial Characteristic (PEC) that makes a big different between a successful entrepreneur and an unsuccessful one is opportunity seeking. That is seeking, recognizing and acting on new business opportunities. This is the use of contacts or networking to obtain useful information. It is in view of the above fact that, we at THE THY CONSULTING are introducing this wonderful opportunity to you. This is golden opportunity that will enable readers to create for themselves, the targets and lofty goals for huge success. WHAT ARE THE MERITS OF SNAIL FARMING? From our own experience, they include, among others: 1. Snail farming in Nigeria is a virgin in the kingdom of livestock as a result the earlier investors without doubt have bright prospects in exploring this venture. 2. Snail farming is a practicable and viable venture yet unexplored in Nigeria. If it has worked elsewhere, it will work in Nigeria. 3. This technology has been approved to be most lucrative farming venture presently, as it requires far less capital investment, while much profit is being generated in a considerable short period. It has lower risk compared to other livestock farming. 4. The demand for snail is higher than the supplies asuch the market potential of snail is inexhaustible, locally and internationally. 5. Virtually every part of snail is of vital use in Food, Pharmaceutical industry, manufacturing and fishing industries. 6. Snail is an export commodity, which has value next to gold in overseas countries. It is a foreign exchange income earner of our days. Our climate is one of the best in snail breeding. 7. Snail farming in Nigeria requires small capital and the running cost is very low, hence their feeds are very local. 8. If your start up capital is N100,000 you can generate the sum of one million naira in one year. Some people in other livestock may earn another N100,000, if they met no risk in a year. 9. Snail business indeed is a GEM in the livestock business. Therefore take advantage of the opportunity of being among the forerunners in this unbeatable venture. 10. You can conveniently earn income a thousand fold higher than your present earning. You can keep your present job and do this on part time since it doesn't require much time. 11. This is a real export market that earns foreign revenue without you running from pillar to post. 12. This is not fiction but factual. Not imaginary but a reality. You too will share your view with others. 13. No stress, no time consuming, no odour, no noise and no irritation.