Assessment of rabbit production value chain in South-West Nigeria

Author: U.E. Okpakpor, M.L. Adeleke, M. Adegbenro and G.E. Onibi
estherugoch@gmail.com
Abstract:
Rabbit farming is an aspect of mini-livestock production that has the ability of increasing the income level, providing alternative livelihood and supplying animal protein for man. This study assessed the value chain of rabbit production in South West Nigeria. Both primary and secondary data were used. Interview schedule and structured questionnaire were administered on 105 respondents to get relevant information on feeding, medication and marketing of rabbits in the study area. The results showed that about 23% use a combination of concentrates, forages and kitchen waste to feed their rabbits, 34% use forages and kitchen waste, 29% use concentrates and forages, 4% use both concentrates and kitchen waste while about 2, 4 and 8% of the respondents use kitchen waste, forages and concentrates only, respectively. Majority of the respondents use poultry feed (54%) for rabbits while of the 46% who use rabbit feeds, only 37% use commercially sold rabbit feeds. Most of the farmers (53%) sell directly to the final consumers while 15 and 26% of the respondents reported activities of wholesalers and retailers, respectively. About 72% of the respondents sell live rabbit while only 21% process rabbits into meat before sales. Other by-products sold by about 8% respondents include rabbit faeces and urine. The value chain description of rabbit production in the study, therefore, exhibited all the levels of distribution chains. This study revealed that animal feed producers should be encouraged to invest into rabbit feed production to reduce the use of poultry feed in feeding rabbits.

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Key Words: Rabbit, value chain, forage, feed.
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