Rabbit breeders venture into value addition
THE Zimbabwe Commercial Rabbit Breeders Association (Zicorba) has ventured into value addition to boost profitability of the cuniculture sector as farmers prepare to claim their share on the local and export markets.
The value addition initiative, which has started with rabbit farmers in Mashonaland West Province, which is one of farming strongholds in the country, is expected to cascade to other provinces such as Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South provinces as well as Midlands.
Demand and consumption of rabbit meat locally is driving commercialisation of the cuniculture industry, with leading hotels adding the meat to their menus.
Zicorba said its Mashonaland West Chapter has resolved to focus on the many benefits of
rabbit farming as its market penetration trump card.
Secretary general for Zicorba in Mashonaland West Mr Tonderai Kamuzu said valueaddition is key to increasing profitability among rabbit farmers.
“We talked about value-addition of rabbit meat and the potential uses of rabbit waste
products, chief among them is the use of rabbit urine as fertiliser and insecticide.
“We also explored the use of rabbit droppings as good quality manure which can be used
in organic horticultural activities,” he said.
Mr Kamuzu said at their recent meeting they crafted strategies and initiatives to
encourage the general uptake of cuniculture in the province.
“The aim of the strategic planning meeting was to see how best can we move forward in
rabbit farming as a province.
“We want to see the association going forward, creating marketing opportunities, creating jobs especially to the youth of today hence the need to come up with a wellcoordinated plan for the province.
“Our discussions were broad and touched on many areas of interest,” he said.
“We interrogated a number of ideas because this was the opportunity, we had to come up with a robust road map to ramp up production.”
Some of the critical issues discussed at the forum were largely on the production side, benefits of keeping rabbits, how to penetrate the market and how best Zicorba can get more productive members, not just idle members.
Presently, the cuniculture industry is producing between 2,5 tonnes and 3,5 tonnes of rabbit meat per month for the local market and the figures are anticipated to rise to over 25tonnes with net revenue of about US$1 million.
Globally, rabbit meat market revenue amounted to US$6,4 billion in 2017 reflecting a 12 percent improvement from the previous year’s figures.
The amount of rabbit meat consumed worldwide totalled 1,5 million tonnes in 2017, showing a 2,9 percent increase against the 2016 figures.
According to a latest global research report published by Market Research Store, despite the Covid-19 pandemic spreading rapidly across the world, the world rabbit market has employed certain strategic moves and profitable processes to sustain the industry into the future.
The report states that key players in the global rabbit market have adopted various strategies such as signing agreements, acquisitions, mergers, and joint ventures to grow their business in the market over the period 2022 to 2028.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has affected a number of markets and the global rabbit market
is no exception.
‘However, the dominating players of the global rabbit market are adamant to adopt new strategies and look for new funding resources to overcome the rising obstacles in the market growth, reads part of the report, which Zicorba quoted.
The global rabbit market is segmented into the United States, Canada and Mexico in North America, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and the rest South America, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, and France, among others.-chronicle.ozw
