Snail farming (2)

updated: Monday 02.11.2009

Oluwatomi Olatoye is the Founder/Executive Director of Centre For Urban Agriculture Development(CUAD), an organization encouraging Backyard Farming and promoting wealth creation through agric. She is the author of ‘Raising Snails For Local and Export Markets. Contact:urbanagric@yahoo.com, www.urbanagricng.org

Giant African Land Snails will eat a huge variety of food. In the wild they mainly eat fresh or rotten leafy vegetation.

Snails consume up to 40 per cent of its total weight within a 24 hour period. Snails require high protein and high fibre foods with plenty of calcium (Ca). This is essential for shell development.

Types of food:
1. Fruits, leaves and vegetables:
Orange, banana, apple, pear, carrot, tomato, watermelon, overriped-pineappe, pumpkins(ugwu), sweet corn, plantain, cucumber, pawpaw fruits and leaves, cocoyam, potato and cassava, beans leaves, lettuce, spinach, eggplant, cabbage, etc.

2.Tubers:
Yam, cocoyam, cassava, Irish and sweet potatoes.(uncooked)

3.Others:
Eba, amala, pap, rice , boiled egg, eeri, semovita, pounded wheat, powdered milk, boiled meat, snail meat. uncooked beans, quaker oats, custard, soya, etc. NOTE : Do not give your Snails salt or salty foods!

4.Mash:
Snail eat grower mash or layers mash. Apart from the wide varieties of food consumed by snails, they also require daily consumption of calcium to attain maximum growth.

Calcium Sources
Egg shell, calcium tablet, oyster shell, bone meal, snail shell, or compounded calcium powder.

Water : Serve water in a flat plate, but if a moist diet is offered to the snails drinking water might not be provided. It is also interesting to know that snails drink beer !

Feeding methods : Snails should be fed daily. Food should be put in flat plates and place where all snails will have access to the food. Left-over food should be removed the following day to keep the snail pen clean. Avoid placing perishable foods directly on the soil.

Tips on starting a small-medium scale snail farm
What type of species to grow-it is advisable to grow any of the giant African land snails.

•Choose suitable housing type—cage or snail pen most ideal.

•Purchase your initial stock.

Processing of snails:
Processing is the treatment of live snails to make the meat ready for consumption or packaging for storage or export. There are different methods of processing snails being adopted by farmers in different countries. The whole essence is to make snails ready for consumption.

In Nigeria, snails are usually sold as:

*Fresh live snail

*Frozen snail meat.

Method 1:
Live snails are boiled in water for about 10 minutes and the snail meat is removed from the shell

Method 2:
Use of sharp metal to remove snail from the shell. The slime is then removed by using alum or lime or salt. Rinse with clean water before cooking.

Enemies of snails
1. Sun/sunlight

2. Too much water.

3. Frogs

4. Toads

5. Millipedes.

6.Centipedes.

7. Snakes

8. Lizards

9.Rats.

10.Cockroaches.

11.Termites.

12.Soldier ants

13. Man.

There is no organised snail market in Nigeria. A snail farmer can sell his snails thus :

*Directly to snail sellers in the market. *Directly to consumers. *Supply to eateries and hotels or export.

Join the world to celebrate world food day by growing some of your own food !. Stay blessed and see you at the Agric. Business Meeting on the 24th of October.