MAN STARTS BUSINESS FROM RABBIT GIFT

Faced with hard times, Frederick ‘Ricky’ Ingram did not fall to the pressure. Instead, when he received three rabbits as a gift, he decided to use them to earn an income.

When THE STAR team visited him at his Bois Content home in rural St Catherine, he was in the process of feeding his animals a small portion of crushed corn.

“They are selling like hot bread. Persons raise them as pets, but the majority of who purchase said they are sold in New Kingston, and the meat is very expensive. I sell a lot of them for parties and weddings. Rabbit meat is a delicacy, enuh,” he said.

Ingram explained that he was living in Old Harbour with his family, but relocated to Bois Content after his mother passed.

“Work did kinda hard fi get, so me just go start farm some yam and other tings. Mi bredda give mi a pair a rabbit, and once the ‘madda’ one breed up, she drop 10 babies, and the next one drop eight, and a deh so the rabbit business just tek off,” he said.

Currently, Ingram he has more than one dozen plump rabbits in his cage, but according to him, they are not yet ready to be sold.

“Give dem another two week and dem ready like Freddie. You have a lady who buy from me who love the younger rabbits dem. She say the meat taste sweeter and is easier to cook. More time me nuh have hands to sell dem. As dem born, me have buyer fi dem,” he said.

He stated that a pair of rabbits will go for between $4,000 and $10,000, depending on their size.

Ingram added that he would like to increase the size of his rabbit coop but finds it financially challenging.

“It can be rough in these parts enuh, man. More time when a drought season, everything dry up. So like how me find out say di rabbit ting can work, me would really like to get a bigger coop fi dem, but me can’t afford it right now,” he said.

In addition to farming and rabbit rearing, Ingram also earns an income from selling charcoal to community members.