How to Spin Cool Cash From Backyard Snail Farming

For Local and Export Market

Start Your Own Snail Farming Business And Raise Multiple
Income In No Time

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Have you ever tasted fried, peppered snails before? If you have not then you are
missing something. Snails are common shell creatures we find in our backyards,
especially during the rainy season. They are very sensitive to sunlight, dehydration
and would always live in places where you have vegetation. Snails may look
insignificant, but I tell you, they can be a huge source of wealth.
Food scientists are optimistic that this common creature could provide much
needed nutrition for people living in developing countries like Nigeria, where
inexpensive sources of protein are hard to come by. According to a study published
in the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health - snail
meat may actually be superior to beef in terms of nutritional value and taste
acceptability.

There are several kinds of snails all over the world. They include Achatina
achatina, Achatina marginata (Nigerian specie) and Achatina fulica which is the
type found in tropical Africa.

Fortunately, it is possible to breed snails from home. If there's one business you are
thinking of starting with low risk and which is usually pregnant with several
streams of income, then you may consider backyard snail farming. The high
volume sale recorded by snail traders, weekly in Lagos, is an indication that
consumption rate is high which makes it a business goldmine.

Speaking with Mr. Eddie Okhiria, snail breeding expert and director Snail Care
Farm, Lagos, his decision to foray into snail farming, having left the banking world
over a decade ago is not regrettable. Mr. Eddie, leveraged on an unused plot of
land, in his Lagos home residence, to start a backyard snail farm that has since seen
him smiling to the bank almost on a weekly basis having also discovered other
streams of income in this business. Here the export and snail expert, unveils to
readers, how to start commercial snail rearing that guarantees huge profit over
time.

What is Backyard Snail Farming?

Just in the same way you have those who breed catfish from their home fish pond,
so also one can breed or rear snails (either for home consumption or commercial
purposes) from the backyard. It's all about artificial creation of a natural
environment for snails to thrive. The process of farming or raising land snails
specifically for human consumption is called Heliculture. Snails naturally thrive
best in a good moist loamy soil, and cool vegetation.

When you have a lush green vegetable garden. (a good soil that contains 20%-40%
organic matter), at home and you have particular trees such as banana, plantain,
coconut, etc that provide shade, then you can easily stock the garden with snails
dividing them into pens. There are those which have come up with different
methods of keeping snails such as earthen pots, old car lyres, wooden cages
concrete trenches etc. Experts like Mr. Eddie would always recommend that if you
want to get the best out of rearing snails, then, a lush green vegetable garden is it.

What a Snail Pen Is

Farm animals are usually kept in pens so as to restrict their movement. A good
snail pen enables the breeder to monitor his or her stock at all times with ease. So,
a snail pen is just a single fence-in area which restricts the movement of snails and
protects them. It can be built using corrugated sheet metals, fine-mesh chicken
wire or woven plant material from split bamboo.

Usually, a snail pen would always be free of weeds or overgrown grasses. It must
have shelter plants like plantain, coconut, banana, pineapple, pawpaw to provide
shade.

The pens are constructed in various sizes depending on your land space.
Depending on the size available to you, you can have: 1m x 1m, 1.5m x 1m, 5m x
5m or 10m x 5m. With a 1m x 1m pen space, you can comfortable stock 50 giant
snails.

The Need to Grow Shelter Plants

What are shelter plants? They are plants that provide cool shade or serve as
windbreakers in a snail pen. They are source extra food for the snails to aid quick
growth. Snails can choose what to eat from any of the shelter plants. Some
common shelter plants are banana tree, plantain tree, oil palm, pawpaw, coconut
tree. These shelter plants overtime helps to suppress the growth of weeds and
grasses in the pen. When there's excessive rain, they climb and hide under the
plants.

Why Snails Are Highly Consumed

According to Mr. Eddie, snails like many animals feet for human consumption are
going into extinction. The ones we see naturally during rainy seasons especially in
gutters, or in our homes are not the nutritiously delicious species. They are also
usually small in size. The very nutritious ones are big and are in high demand.
Consumers (especially in highbrow areas) who know the worth go for them
because they are very high in protein and low in saturated fat when compared to
the regular beef. Snails are a good source of vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin B12,
Iron and excellent source of essential fatty acids.

Why Edible Snails Are Scarce

Due to continual decline through deforestation, urbanization, road construction,

use of pesticides and bush burning, giant snails are gradually grinding to extinction
in Nigeria. Despite the fact that snails are carted away by traders from the rural
areas to towns and cities, year-in-year out, for consumption without replenishment,
a lot still abound in our farms and forest. This is attributed to their reproductive
potentials, and peculiar survival features. Hence, those who go into breeding snails
from their backyard will not only be making money, but will be helping to preserve
the existence of the snail kingdom.

How to Identify Good Snails

When looking for good snails, what striking features should you look out for?
According to the snail expert, good edible snails should fill their shells and have
good strong shells which protect them from their enemies. The shell of an edible
snail must not be broken or perforated. While perforations retard their growth,
broken shells could lead to death.

The large snails are better and healthier and lay more eggs than smaller snails.
They also sell better at the market. In addition, the large snails hatch better and the
baby snails grow faster and bigger.

What Food Do Snail Eat?

Snails generally feed on fruits and vegetables. Some of which include: Pineapple,
Pawpaw, Water melon, Guava, Oil palm, Coconut, Banana, Plantain, Assorted
flowers and plants. They also love a plant known as bishop plant. They also feed
on pap residue. The disadvantage of flowers and plants is that they are seasonal
when planted in your garden unlike banana and plantain trees which have the
capacity to regenerate.

States Where You Can Find Edible Giant Snails

You can find edible snails in states like Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Ogun,
Kwara and Kogi. Most of the snails are gotten from thick forest. The snails are
then brought to the local markets for sale. However care should be taken in buying
snails for rearing at the local market because such snails might have been washed
or left under harsh and stressful conditions for unnecessarily long period of time
and may soon die.

What is the Seasonal Period for Snail Farming in Nigeria

Snails can be available all year round. However, snail business thrives in Nigeria
between the months of April and November each year. Peak months are June, July,
August and September (Rainy Season). But note that lands that flood is bad for
snail farming. Excessive water in the soil does not allow for reproduction or snail
eggs to hatch.

Why You Should Start Your Backyard Snail Farming

Backyard snail farming business according to Mr. Eddie, is one of the easiest
animal farming business one can engage in. The business is not saturated yet.
Engaging in it means you are helping to protect the extinction of the animal from
the Wild (Forest). Snail requires only a small area of land to start with. This
backyard business is easy to combine with other normal schedule of activities and
can easily be managed even by women and children.

There is high potential for good returns; one of the most profitable investment you
can think of. As hermaphrodites, both the male and female specie of snails have
capacity to reproduce periodically. Moreover, a full grown giant snail lays on the
average 8 eggs every other two months and can reproduce itself at least 20 times in
a season. This reproductive advantage on the long run increases the stock of the
breeder.
Another interesting benefit or breeding snails is the fact that they are in high
demand in high brow areas, hotels, restaurants etc. Their feeding materials are
cheap and locally available. Edible snails are available all year round especially
during rainy season.

Streams Of Income In The Business

Backyard snail farming is such that you can make multiple streams of income.
They include:

Source young and middle aged snails and then sell after growing them for a few
months for profits.

Make money from shelter trees; Food and shelter plants or trees like Coconut
palm, Pawpaw grow to produce fruits overtime in a pen. Hence, you can easily
make huge cash selling them.

Sale of nursery plant: You can make extra cash raising and selling nursery shelter
plant to start-up snail breeders.

Warehousing: Many snail traders have the challenge of keeping or warehousing

their unsold snails. You can make money by providing that warehousing service.

Consultancy service: An experienced snail farmer can provide consultancy services

on snail pen construction and farm management to generate income.

Snail joint You can decide to operate a mini boiled peppered snail or fried
peppered snail joint and you can be sure to make huge cash.

Those You Can Market To

Individuals Its not uncommon to see individuals visit major markets to buy
edible snails. You can target such individuals through word of mouth, fliers, advert
etc.

Snail traders Snail traders in the local market usually sell big, medium and small
size snail. You make cool profit if you buy and stock the big ones and wait for
when its scarce to resell back to the snail traders. You can also buy the medium
size for cheap. All you need do is grow them to a bigger size at your farm and
resell to the traders for better profit.
Hotels They are in huge demand for snails. You can position yourself as a
regular supplier.

Restaurants They also patronize suppliers of quality snails especially Chinese

restaurant. The more restaurants you supply, the bigger your profit.

Eateries They also patronize suppliers of quality snails especially Chinese

restaurant. The more restaurants you supply, the bigger your profit.

Barbecue operators - You can become a supplier to those who are barbecue
operators

Start Up Capital
Setting up a snail pen requires initial capital for the housing unit and the
foundation stock. A backyard snail farmer can start the project with at least N50,
000 at a small scale. Then with about 5 of income in the N100, 000 to N200, 000
for medium and possibly large scale.

Profit Potential
Snail farming has potentials for very good returns on investment (ROI). A unit of
matured giant snail can reproduce itself under a conducive environment at least 20
times in a year. Also, a unit of giant Snail of average cost of N100 can appreciate
in value to N250 (that is a margin of N 150) after 3-4months with enough feeding.
If therefore you have a stock of 500 pieces to supply, (if you invested N50, 000 to
stock) multiply that by N150 this will give you N75, 000 (Your profit is N25, 000)

5 Simple Steps Required to Start

The steps are:

1. Do a feasibility study of your land to ascertain the suitability of the soil. One
proof of that is the growth of the shelter trees.

2. Then you do the construction/design of your snail pen with right dimension.

3. The next step is to grow your food and shelter vegetation or plant. The shelter
plants are reproduced in your garden through the suckers. These are
part of the plant that grow from their roots which when planted grow to form new
plants.
4. Security fencing of your pen to prevent loss or disappearance of snails.

5. Stocking of your snails

How To Export Snails

Snails are exported live, fresh, chilled, frozen, salted and dried with or without
shell. On the average, 3kg of live or fresh snails are used to produce 1 kg of
processed snail flesh. Nigeria does not yet have a strong culture and tradition in the
export of snails. However, in recent times successful attempts are being made by
Nigerians to export snails to other countries although in small quantities. Snails are
usually exported either by air or by sea depending on the agreement between the
buyer and seller.

Only active snails are selected for shipping. An inactive snail may be sick or dying.
It's best to ship live snails, so each snail is inspected to be sure it's healthy. Snails
are packed in cartons or can be canned for shipment.

The basic document required for export for snails include; bill of lading, air
waybill, port health certificate, veterinary certificate, certificate of origin,
commercial invoice and what is called NXP form.

What is the safest payment method? A letter of credit is an undertaking by a bank

to pay an exporter the value of his goods shipped provided he conforms to the
terms and conditions of the credit. This method protects both the exporter and
foreign buyer under bank guarantee. Exporters are supposed to have domiciliary
account with any authorized bank of their choice.

Mr. Eddie Okhiria is the Director of Snail Care Farm