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 isAchatina 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 fromother 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 ofthe 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.
