He is lying high with rabbits https://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Farming/He-is- lying-high-...

He is lying high with rabbits

By George Katongole

Jackson Mugisha had little connection to farming as a businessman.

But farming had a way of inding him. A produce buyer, Mugisha set
out on a quest to ind more money-making avenues.

About two years ago with co-founder Joanna Haba and funding from
The Micro inance Support Centre (MSc), Mugisha ventured into
rabbit meat processing giving rise to Bendito Cuts, a premium rabbit
sausages business.

Rabbit sausages are considered a healthy option but it is just one of

the products a rabbit can give a farmer. Mugisha harvests urine
which he sells as organic foliar fertiliser under the brand High Yield.

“Everything the rabbit produces is money,” the 50-year old, says.

“After selling the meat, I ferment urine as fertiliser. The waste is a
rich fertiliser too. The skin is in high demand with craft shoe makers.
Basically, I throw away nothing,” Mugisha says.

He points out that greater ef iciency and pro itability are the driving
force behind his newfound passion in commercial rabbit farming.

“Agriculture is central to many aspects of our society in terms of food

security, health and poverty alleviation. As Bendito, we are trying to
help become more ef icient and more pro itable by adding value to
rabbit meat,” he adds.

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Beginning

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Bendito Mixed Farm is located on a 20-acre piece of leased land in

Ziroobwe Sub-county in Luweero District where it has three big
rabbit houses.

Bendito Farm is incubated at the Uganda Industrial Research

Institute (UIRI) for processing facilities of rabbit meat and fertiliser.
Launched in 2017, the company has raised a stock of more than
1,000 rabbits and by September 2018 they had reported a net pro it
of Shs138m.

Incorporated as a family business in 2016 with his wife Joanna Haba

in Kyanja, the farm invested about Shs7.5m and 10 rabbits. The farm
began by gaining pro its from rabbit urine and waste which they still
harvest until today.

Later in 2017, the Micro inance Support Centre (MSC) offered a

hand of Shs300m to establish what is now a model farm at
Kabulanaka Village. The MSC, a government-funded inancial
services company, offers micro credit programmes under the Rural
Financial Services Strategy.

MSC supports entities engaged in the value chain namely;

agricultural production value chain and marketing enterprises.
Besides credit, MSC provides capacity building for sustainably.

Sustainability
In commercial rabbit production, the difference between pro itable
and unpro itable is the ability of fryer rabbits (bunnies ear marked
for selling for meat) to weigh about two kilogrammes within eight
weeks. This is because every day past that period costs more money
in additional feed and cage space.

This is achieved through good practices that include; feeds high in

protein and ibre, excellent stock, getting rabbits early on pellets,
faster weaning especially after 28 days and enough cage space. Yet

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commercial farming requires enough stock to be able to meet

market demand.

Rabbit farms such as Bendito, Rab Farm, Agrosol, Vert Fields, and
Learn Enterprises cannot consistently produce enough meat to
satisfy the local market.

Yet the export market is there for the taking. Germany, Belgium, and
Italy are the largest rabbit meat importers with an estimated
revenue of $1.3b (Shs4.9 trillion).
“When more people get to appreciate the health bene its of
consuming rabbit meat, we shall have more people involved,”
Mugisha explains.

According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), domestic

rabbit meat is the most nutritious meat known to man. Their
research indings concluded that rabbit meat has been
recommended for heart disease patients, the elderly, low sodium
diets, and weight reduction diets.

Bendito’s farm at Kabulanaka Village is supplemented by a contract

farming scheme for youth and women groups which are funded with
the help of MSC.
Tukolerewamu Women’s Group, Dundu in Kyampisi Sub-county,
Mukono District is among the ive youth and women groups bee ing
up Benditos’ supply.

The mother body, Dundu Parish Multipurpose Society has 60

members who are involved in different activities including: grocery
trading, art and craft, produce growing as well as savings and loans.

It began as an adult learning class in 2016 before the current

transformation. Sarah Nakizza, the group leader explains that
although bene its are yet to be reaped, the prospects are good.

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The group received seed capital of 11 rabbits. Three died in the irst
month but they now have a stock of 74 bunnies.

“We do not have concerns about the market because that is

guaranteed through our contract with Bendito Farm,” she said. The
group seeks Shs4.9m to build more cages.

The market
Bendito currently supplies its meat to Capital Shoppers
Supermarket and Torino Restaurant. Before the lockdown, Mugisha
averaged sales of one tonne every month although this has dropped
to less than 100 kilogrammes during this ongoing Covid-19
lockdown.

“Many supermarkets, restaurants and hotels have a growing demand

for rabbit meat and are looking for consistent suppliers to satisfy
their demand sustainably.

We plan to ill this gap by investing in the expansion of our farm

stock,” Mugisha says.
Farm gate prices for a kilogramme of sausages is Shs23,000 while a
litre of foliar fertilisers is Shs20,000. The market of rabbits in
Uganda is still nascent due to cultural tendencies and competing
sources of animal protein. For instance, some women in Uganda
believe that eating rabbit meat would make them produce children
with long rabbit like ears.

Nduho Mugyenyi, the Rabbit Project Coordinator at MSC says rabbit

farming has been taken as a funding area because it can be an
instrument for poverty alleviation.
“We would like to engage youth and women in productive long-term
money-making activities,” Mugyenyi says. Both groups, he adds, are
inancially excluded by major credit facilities because they normally
don’t have security for credit inancing.

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Apart from pellets, readily available fresh-cut forages can be used as

feed. But they must be safeguarded against predators and thieves.
Currently, the slaughtering and deboning are done from his home in
Kyanja before meat is taken to UIRI for value addition.

Mugisha plans to expand by acquiring his own slaughter house and

to diversify into more products like frankfurters as well as importing
the fast maturing Flemish Giants breed.

Big deal
Some years ago, rabbit keeping was a children’s activity, with many
keeping the animals as pets. However, with most people embracing
rabbit meat and more opportunities arising from the animal’s by-
products, farmers are now making good money from rabbits.

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