James Mureithi got into rabbit farming in 2016, but not economically.
He simply needed rabbit urine for his farm, but as the project evolved, he decided to sell it.
“I’ve been rabbit farming since 2016, but I wasn’t doing it commercially. I started rabbit farming because I needed some urine for my farm, but the project grew and I turned it into commercial farming,” he explained.
Mureithi stated that he decided to commercialize and concentrate on rabbit breeding after understanding its lucrative returns.
For example, in addition to selling rabbits, the farmer sells rabbit urine and droppings.
“What has pushed me to persist in rabbit farming is its benefits because selling the urine and droppings may accommodate for the management of the farm. We sell rabbit urine at Ksh 100 per liter while the dropping we sell at Ksh 100 per kg,” he detailed.
From the venture, Mureithi earns anywhere from Ksh 70,000 to Ksh 80,000 per month on average.
“There are months when you don’t sell much urine, but there are also months when people request rabbit urine, droppings, or bunnies that are quite unusual.
Mureithi maintained that there is a ready market for rabbit growers. He added that as time passes, people’s interest in rabbit meat increases, as does their interest in rabbit husbandry.
“The rabbit market grows by the day. There are many emerging farmers who need to join the rabbit farming. At the same time, there are people who want to try rabbit meat, thus the market grows by the day. A kilogram of rabbit meat costs Ksh 1,000,” he explained.
However, Mureithi, like any other firm, has faced its own set of obstacles.
His biggest issue is keeping the bunnies clean and free of human infections.
“We have obstacles in every element of our work, but one of the most difficult challenges in rabbit farming is failing to keep the rabbits clean. All diseases that affect rabbits are typically caused by people,” he stated.
