Owning a snail farm business is becoming a popular business venture for most entrepreneurs in the current time. Snail has a very delicious taste thereby causing it a very huge demand in the market alongside its nutritional value.
Snails have big global popularity. The meat gotten from snails is said to contain a high amount of protein, calcium, magnesium, iron, vitamin A, and a low quantity of fat. A reason for the snail farm business would be the economic value gotten from the venture. You can make quite a good profit from the business if you truly are interested.
Are you looking for a new business venture to start? or do you want to invest in the snail farm business? This article will give you all the basic information you need to start.
All snails are hermaphrodites and this makes them highly reproductive because both of the reproductive organs are present in every snail. A snail can lay eggs about 6 times a year and they can lay more than 70 to 100 eggs at once.
Snail meat is better than other red meat because of its high nutrient and low cholesterol level. It also contains phosphorus and sodium. Many dietitians and doctors mostly recommend snail meat for their patients and everyone. Snails have great market acceptance and can even be shipped abroad.
The business of snail farming can be a great sector and provision of employment for people who are unemployed because it has different benefits and works attached. Ranging from family nutritional benefits and demands to commercial production of snails. Owning or establishing a snail farm can now even be made easier by using modern technologies that will require less capital and produce much because running cost is less. Another advantage of the snail farm business is that the risk of losses is less when compared to other types of livestock rearing and business. Every part of the snail is usable and the profit-making level is very high as long as the demands get higher
Snail farming generally isn't time-consuming and there is less stress, noise, irritation, or even offensive smell. It can be easily combined with other occupations to diversify streams of income.
Here are important things that you must sort if you want to invest or own a snail farm business.
Suitable environment
Snails are mostly generally easily dehydrated so you can't keep them in a place with less moisture. Snail tends to lose moisture and the wind increases the rate. A suitable location for the snail farm would be a place that is protected from wind, for example, an area with many trees that can help to protect your snailery from the wind.
Suitable soil
Soil is the major habitat for snails. To have a successful snail farm business you must choose land that contains all important substances that can improve the growth of snails. Not all types of soil are suitable for snail farming. The shell of a snail composes of mainly calcium and they get that calcium from the soil. They also drink water from the soil and lay their eggs from the soil. The soil you must select in your location should be sandy-loamy soil that has low water holding capacity. The soil won't be too waterlogged, too dry, or acidic. You must avoid acidic and clayey soil.
Building your snailery
A snailery is a key essential to your snail farm business. A snailery keeps the snails safe and helps them produce more. If you want to build a small-scale snail business, snailery can be built with a fence to make a pen and cover with a screen to keep snails from escaping. Snails love to stay in dark and cold places but keep them away from harmful humidity levels. To regulate the temperature in the snailery you use fresh leaves and wet clothes. A snailery must also prevent harmful animals like snakes, rats, termites, and ants.
Buying or collecting snails
After making suitable arrangements for the snail. You can now proceed to get some snails and it's advised that you get directly from the forest than purchasing from marketplaces. Collected snails are found to be easily adapted to the new environment created unlike the snails bought from the market.
You can collect snails during the rainy season by clearing a little portion of land and sprinkling fruits like banana, pineapple, and so on in the evening. You can go there after about 3 hours to collect snails that have gathered the place and you continue until you have enough for what you want to start with.
Another way to collect snails is to get some snail eggs in the market and you can check the fertility of the eggs to ensure they are good because they can lose their fertility when they are consistently exposed to sunlight. After this, you can put the eggs in a container that has wet sand and cover it with a cocoyam leaf. The eggs will hatch into baby snails within 21-28 days, then you can start feeding the baby snails to adults for your snail farm business.
Feeding
Snails eat mainly green leaves and fruits. You need to ensure the proper growth of snails by feeding them. They need to grow their tissues and need calcium for their shells. You can feed your snails some leaves like cocoyam leaves, cassava leaves, lettuce, cabbage, pawpaw leaves, okra leaves, and so on. You can feed them fruits like banana, eggplant, cucumber, mango, pawpaw, pears, tomatoes, etc.
Marketing
When your snails start growing you can separate them based on their growth rate and within a year most snails reach their marketing size. Some snails can take more time to grow and regardless of this the demand and price for snails are high. You can easily sell snails at your local market and even start exporting them to the international and global market to make more money.
The snail farm business has proven to be lucrative and can be combined with your other business or work. Beginners are advised to visit snail farms practically and learn from owners before they start building their businesses.
📸 Pexels
Posts
0 Comments