‘Start snail farm, it can put money in your pocket’
One of the most expensive meat you can get in the market is snail, but very few people, particularly those from southern Nigeria, seem to understand the agronomy of farming snail.
Snail is largely consumed in the SouthSouth, South-East and the South-West. It is also appreciated by some in the North. Termed “big man’s meat,” not everybody can afford it in open markets, malls or farms. It is usually consumed by wealthy or middle-class income earners. For example, in some of the big malls in Abuja, a stick of prepared snail containing few pieces could cost between N2,500 to N7,000, depending on the weight, Daily Trust gathered.
How can one start a snail farm? According to Dagunduro O. Gideon, a specialist in snail farming and director, Success Farm, Gwagwalada, Abuja, people should take advantage of snailry farming because it is good business.
“The major thing about snailry is that the intended farmer must have a good location. For those of us in the North, three things are important: the temperature, the soil type and availability of water,” he said.
He stressed that the condition of the environment matters a lot. Above all, the farmer must have good management practices.
“If you want to start a snail farm, you must construct a good pen because snails are nocturnal animals. You don’t put them on concrete grounds; there must be soil inside the pen,” he said.
Pastor Gideon said snails ate different types of foods such as the local ‘agidi’ which they consume very well, banana leaves and so on.
According to him, it takes six months to harvest snails from the farm, adding that there is ready markets, particularly in Abuja where people from different parts of the country are domiciled.
Arakunrin Bode Mebude is the director of Agribusiness School in Abuja.
He told our reporter that a farmer can start a snail farm with N5,000 or N10,000. According to him, snails don’t like heat and too much cold. He advised farmers to feed them more in the night with hips of banana leaves or other dry leaves, which also provide moderate temperature for them.
Others use watermelon, but the agric teacher warned that if not moderated, it can make them grow too fat and big, thereby making them susceptible to death. He stressed that the ecology of the place must be hygienic and free from predictors because their food and eggs can attract reptiles and ants, which could smoke them out or kill them.
Mebode, who also breeds snails from his plant in Oyo town, said they produced twice a year if the farmer got the good foundation brook stocks, which he said came from Edo and Ondo states.
On the market for the product, Arakunrin said one would go for N350 but would cost N600 each in hotels, restaurants and other eateries.
When Daily Trust went to Zuba Fruits Market where snails are sold in large quantities, it was discovered that most of them come from the South. Many people breed them while some are sourced from the forests around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Mrs. Kemi, who sells snails in the market, told our reporter that demand was good.