HOW TO START SNAIL FARMING IN NIGERIA, KENYA & GHANA.

SNAIL FARMING

(Achatina achatina)

 

Snail farming can be very profitable in Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa and Nigeria. Yet, it is one of the most neglected animal rearing business in these countries. Snail farming provides one of the finest opportunity to make money within a short period of time.

Making N 5,000,000 annually in snail rearing is a done deal if it’s well and gotten right.

What is snail?

Common name is Achatina achatina. The Giant Ghana snail OR the Giant tiger land snail. A species of very large, air breathing land snail, Giant African land snail are hermaphrodites, meaning they possess both the female and male reproductive organ. Two snails are still needed for breeding, but they are very prolific breeders.

Achatina achatina’s shell can attain a length of 200mm and a maximum diameter of 100mm. they may possess between 7 – 8 whorls and the shell is often broadly ovate. The body of the animal is silver brown in color although albino morphs may exist

Achatina achatina is very good for commercialization because of its profitability. This is because of the volume of eggs it lay at once. Each achatina lays 300 – 500 eggs at a time in clutches, three times a year.

·         Snail farming environment

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

A low plain, downhill site surrounded with enough tress is perfect for snail farming. You must plant plantain and banana around your snail farm to prevent the impact of wind.

·         Types of soil for snail farming

Snail major habitat is the soil, and soil contains some of the component and chemical substance that is needed to survive. However, not all soils are suitable for snail rearing. The shell of the snail is mainly calcium and it derives most of them from the soil. Snail also lay its egg on the soil and drink water out of the soil

The suitable soil for snail farming must contain these element, must be balanced, not water logged, not too dry and must not be acidic. The most desirable soil for snails is sandy – loamy soil with low water holding capacity. Clay soil and acidic soil must be avoided.

·         Getting the snails for farming

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.

An intending snail farmer could the snail from the bush with a very simple technique:

Clear a little portion of land during rainy season and sprinkle spicy fruit like pineapple, pawpaw, plantain, banana etc. about 5 o clock, in the evening at 7:00pm OR 8:00pm,you will pick up snails suitable for rearing. Repeat this procedure until you get enough quantity.

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

·         The snail house

Snail house can vary from a patch of fence – protected ground, sheltered from 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 (TOB) with soil deep of 10inches and cover with screen of wire all around to prevent the snail from escaping.

Snail produce fast and become pests when their breeding is uncontrolled.

Snails love dark and cold places but make sure the humidity does not drop to level harmful to snail. You can use decayed plantain leaves to conserve the soil (MULCH)

Although the wire is useful in keeping away rats and snakes OR other predators from eating the snail.

·         Snail foods and feeding

Snail especially Achatina mainly feed on green leaves and fruits. Although they can utilize other range of food. Feed your snails with leaves (water leave) fruits (pawpaw) OR even formula from the feed store. Aside from food to grow tissues, snails need calcium to grow shells.

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

Fruits: mango, eggplant, pawpaw, banana, tomato, oil palm fruit.

Once they start growing, separate them into Breeder, Grower and Finisher. It takes more than a year for Achatina types to grow to harvest size. Others in two years (Achatina fulica: east African land snail, Achatina marginata: West African snail)

·         Harvest

It is not economically wise to harvest your snails before its maturity. It has to be matured before harvesting. To know if your snails are matured enough, check the brim of the shell. If it is matured enough, the brim should be thicker and harder than other part of the shell.