The Ndekero Challenge: A Systems Approach for Rabbit Keeping by a Rural Community in Partnership with a Commercial Rabbit Farm

jenngross said 5 months ago

This is an innovative idea-combining rabbit and fish farming.

You mention that the ARC prize money will be used to implement the community rabbit keeping system. Can you elaborate on how it will be used as it's not clear to me?

Are there any parts of Kenya where rabbit meat is grilled like goat meat for nyama choma? I wonder if people would be interested in eating rabbit meat in this way in Kenya.

Also, how will you decide which parents can work at the rabbit farm at the school? And how will you select which 50 families will first receive rabbits to expand their current farms or begin rabbit farming?

Thanks for submitting your idea. I look forward to learning more about your project.

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Thank you for being the first commenter and for initiating the discussion so that the project idea can be improved further. The project description was intended to be brief so that the details can be elaborated further.

Q: how will you decide which parents can work at the rabbit farm at the school?

A: As indicated the Nazareth Sisters run the school. They will be the ones to decide. The situation is that there are several poor parents are unable to pay the full "team fees" (3 teams/year). When this happens they pull out their child. The girls tend to be in the high risk situation. So the Nazareth Sisters know who are the poor parents and which school children who are at risk of dropping out.

Some parents promise to pay term fees by installment and they do work hard to pay slowly. But cash income is difficult to get for some. When I initiated a rabbit project for the 200 school children (http://www.globetree.org/africa/ndekero) and I looked at the school children (see http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=62541&id=100000175854706), I can make an experienced guess about the financial status of life they may come from. Children in Kenya dress up at their best when they go to school. It is so very special for them.

I was with Canadian visitors in Feb 2009 at the school. They donated sponsorship money for 3 children for a year. The Sisters choose the children but the parents must commit themselves and agree to work 2 days a week in the 30 acre farm and for the rabbit project. This method will screen off those parents who want just the sponsorship and not willing to work.
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jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Q: Are there any parts of Kenya where rabbit meat is grilled like goat meat for nyama choma? I wonder if people would be interested in eating rabbit meat in this way in Kenya.

BBQ is common in Kenya. They grill everything and you can see this especially the market places in poor areas by "road-side grillers". It is wise not to ask what they use to fill their sausages.

I have asked in nyama choma (Kenyan BBQ) restaurants. I need to order because there is no rabbit meat stock supply. It is an arrangement. Some restaurants have their local contacts and sources when there is an order. At restaurant by a bensin station where I have eaten a few times, they are asking for 450 Ksh/kg of grilled rabbit. Yes, rabbit meat "nyama choma" will be a hit. My idea is to sell marinated rabbit meat. It will also serve as a "certification" from the source. (I have a few marinate recipes and how to make the meat tender !!).

Rabbit meat is a good entry point for conversation with rural people. They get so excited.....except in the north of Eastern Kenya (Marsabit, Maikona, Hurri Hills) with the pastoral people of the Chalbi Desert. (http://www.globetree.org/africa/maikona).
+++

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Q: You mention that the ARC prize money will be used to
implement the community rabbit keeping system. Can you
elaborate on how it will be used as it's not clear to me?

A: thanks for the question. I will need to improve the text on
project description for this.

The first community group to be involved will be 50 families. I hope most of these will be parents with children in the school. Each family need to have 2 adult breeders (female).

For those who are starting new (have no rabbits), they need materials to construct a large wooden cage (1m2) (roof sheet, some planks for the floor, chick wire netting, door hinges and nails). Local materials can also be used instead but may be difficult to substitute some items. Material cost estimates: 2000-4000 Ksh.

Since costs of construction of cages is the main hurdle, my approach is that weaned rabbits are delivered to the Rabbit farm in exchange for adult rabbits. This way each family only needs to have only one cage and they can even avoid keeping a male adult. There are also other benefits from their partnership with the Rabbit Farm (more on these later...).

For families who want to raise their rabbits to adult size, the Rabbit farm will help to slaughter and market them.

A limitation factor is the physical distance between the Farm and the home. School children normally walk 30 minutes to school. Some come from 1 hour walk away. So this is probably the limit for travel time (for bicycles too).

I found that costs for coordination/training, follow-up and out-reach interaction (convincing people) can be higher than materials costs on the long run. Many projects start well with the launch of facilities and ideas but fail because of poor follow-ups.

The project needs to train a few local people who can reach out to others. They need to be paid on a day basis.
+++++

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Comment>This is an innovative idea-combining rabbit and fish
>farming.

Yes, I also think so.

I have been the coordinator of the Integrated Biosystem Network for the United Nations University and later for the International Organization of Biotechnology and Bioengineering. This Network deals with integrated farming systems, etc. I coordinated a pig-fish system in Fiji (http://www.globetree.org/jackyfoo/fiji) and exposed to several other systems that integrates with fish farming
(http://www.globetree.org/jackyfoo/icibs, http://www.globetree.org/jackyfoo/ic-mfa). But I have not come
across a rabbit-fish system.

The reason for this integration is to reduce the cost of fencing at
the initial stages of the project. The thinking is why invest in a
structure that does not generate an income. The purpose of the
peripheral fence is to serve as a barrier. Water can also be a barrier (and an income generator). If I have the money, yes, I would build a proper peripheral fence. This is essential in Kenya to avoid conflicts also (people/thefts, owners of animals/predators). Eventually it needs to be done as the food situation becomes worse in the future. But our greatest advantage in the community is that people already have a great respect for the Nazareth Sisters. This will greatly reduce the risks of human conflicts from "internal" sources. We have a supportive community in Ndekero.
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jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Excerpts from another discussion source:

>Jennifer Nodine DeHart:
>You did a great job presenting your idea and the projections.
>Though I think you lowballed the number of offspring, but that
>is fine.
>You did great and I love your idea.
>Well done!! You are an inspiration!

Jacky Foo:
>thanks very much...
>Yes I "lowballed" the nr of weaned bunnies since under local
>Kenyan conditions, 25% of caged and newly weaned bunnies do die
>with a greens diet. Cages are often with a wooden platform and not
> easily "self-cleaned" as in wired cages.

++++

aherrns said 5 months ago

Jacky, great work! Don't forget that a lot of rabbits means a lot of droppings too, which equals to a large amount of free Nitrogen that could be either lost into air or used for composting. The best thing would be to mix it with dry leaves and convert it to a good compost, feed then earthworms and have a. Compost for school garden; b. earthworm to feed hens.

I hope your idea wins!

Madame said 5 months ago

Sounds like an excellent program. My tiny organization tried this at Hopewell School in Nakuru, but the folks had never eaten rabbit and didn't buy into it. The rabbits multiply, but I don't know if any have been eaten yet.

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Madame wrote:
>My tiny organization tried this at Hopewell School in Nakuru,
>but the folks had never eaten rabbit and didn't buy into it.
>The rabbits multiply, but I don't know if any have been eaten yet.

I am sorry to hear about the situation at Hopewell School (Nakuru). If you wish to get rid of some rabbits, I know that the Nakuru Girls Probation Hostel would be so happy to receive them. Please say hello to Manager Rosemary Nabwana (0728-883177) and staff officer Carol Irunu. Also convey my greetings to Romana and Marta who enjoyed rabbit meat during the training course on food self-reliance that I organized in Aug 2008 in Nairobi.

I read in http://www.soar-kenya.com/2008/ (15 April 2008) from Vitalice Kahendah (Director of Hopewell School)
>... they help start a Rabbit project in school to supply the
>kids with the much needed proteins. The team tomorrow will
>be assessing and selecting the site for the hatches to put
>the initial 40 rabbits.

and in http://www.soar-kenya.com/2008/09/ from "Nelly" (13 Sept 2008)
> The rabbit project is doing so well. We now have 21 rabbits
>and one gave birth to 9 young ones last week. I hope they all
>come through. I am amazed at the rate at which these rabbits
>give birth. Its so unbelievable!! We only started with 7.
>We will be feeding on rabbit meet soon. I just hope the kids
>will like it. I have never taken it but i wouldn’t mind to try!
http://www.soar-kenya.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/africa-2009-cyber-1...

I am very curious to know what you mean by ....the folks "didn't buy it".
Please find out if the children at Hopewell School are eating the rabbits now.

thank you.
+++++++jf



http://www.soar-kenya.com/2008/04/

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Here is a better link on rabbit activities at Hopewell School
http://www.soar-kenya.com/index.php?s=rabbit

The last entry about rabbits was in March 2009.

jenngross said 5 months ago

Thank you for your detailed responses to my questions. I look forward to reading the latest version of your proposal.

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

To "Madam"
I found this on Internet and I suggest you contact Mr. Juma to learn if people in Nakuru are eating rabbit meat and if there are any restaurants serving rabbit Nyama choma.

Company Name = Likembe Farms
Likembe Farms, P.O. Box 61 Nakuru, Kenya
Contact: Ramadhani Juma
Phone = +254 721 555 626 /
Email = norfolkblooms@yahoo.com
Ad = We are a in rabbit farming and are seeking buyers of live rabbits
+++
Could you contact Mr Juma to get more information.

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

FORWARDED MESSAGE......

From Steven D. Lukefahr (WRSA General Secretary for Developing Countries)

The proposal is good.

In my first job when I was working in Cameroon, one of the most successful rabbit projects that I started was at St. Mary's Catholic mission. There we established a rabbit unit and the female students received training and often had rabbit meat at the cafeteria. Also, they could obtain breeding stock to take to their home vilage.

The first five sentences of your introduction provide a negative view of rabbit production. It should be presented more positively.

I do not agree that it is mostly a hobby or mostly an activity for children.

Why is the building of cages a "major hurdle"?
++++

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

FORWARDED MESSAGE--(edited with photo)--

From: Steven D. Lukefahr (WRSA General Secretary for Developing Countries)

I like the integration model of rabbit and fish farming.

http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net/SL-VN021-ws.jpg is a photo that I took last November in Vietnam. The fish were Mekong catfish.

I also like the sharing and rabbit meat and income in the community.

You might emphasize more the use of rabbit manure as compost or a culture for fish or earthworms.

Sounds like a very worthy project.
I hope you are successful in obtaining the necessary funding.
++++

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

FORWARDED MESSAGE----

From: Steven D. Lukefahr (WRSA General Secretary for Developing Countries)

I am trying to verify your numbers. A total of 100 does in the project will yield about 2,000 rabbits in a year.

With a 2 kg liveweight and a 60% dress-out, this would yield about 200 kg of rabbit meat in a month.

Are you assuming that the family that produces the rabbits is consuming 50% of all the meat produced
OR are you figuring a base of 50 does ?

++++

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

To respond to the message above from Steven, http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net/scheme01-ws.jpg gives the production scheme.

There are 3 sub-systems in the 1 year project
(i) rural community (50 families with 100 does)
(ii) the rabbit farm (50-60 breeding does
(iii) fish ponds.

The first 2 deal with rabbit production.

A yield of 2000 kits by 100 does would give an average of 20 weaned kits per doe per year. A doe may deliver 4-5 times per year and able to achieve 4-5 weaned kits from each litter. This is a fair/modest number to use.

See output scheme http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net/scheme01-ws.jpg

Scenario 1:
All families decide to maintain only 1 cage and able to deliver all their weaned kits (200) to the Rabbit Colony farm every month. 200 kits will be traded for 50 adult rabbits from the farm and the families return home with them or sell them to the farm at ~180 Ksh each. Farm will also have 100 weaned kits every month from 50 breeding does. So with the best scenario, the Farm will have 300 weaned kits per month for raising.

Scenario 2: Families able to deliver 100 weaned kits per month (i.e. instead of 200). Families take 25 adults. Farm adds another 100 kits from its rabbit colony. Total : 200 weaned kits to handle every month.

Scenario 3:
Families do not deliver kits. Farm has its 100 weaned kits.

Even with these modest numbers, the output (production) scheme has a very good chance to meet its target and expected results. We should be able to do a better prediction 6 months after the launch of the project.
+++

Q: Are these figures reasonable ?

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Steven Lukefahr commented
>I do not agree that it is mostly a hobby
>or mostly an activity for children.

I checked to find out where this "meaning" might come from in the project description and it is probably from in the first line:
>Rabbit keeping in Sub-Sahara African countries is often a
>backyard activity and a hobby for children.

This may have conveyed a different meaning. I can improve the text to say: ....."is often a backyard activity for the family and that children are often involved in the caring of the rabbits".

I noted that in villages and towns in Kenya, very often children are involved and they actually “own” the rabbits. Their parents also respect their “ownership” too. Often when I make visits to buy weaned rabbits at the start of my rabbit projects (http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net/projects.htm), the parents would say: …”I need to ask my son when he returns from school in the afternoon”. I like that and I think children do play an important role in raising rabbits.

In Kenya, I have come to understand that when a rural farmer introduces a cow into its farm, it is often the parents/adults who take care of it. It is a farm job. When a parent brings home rabbits, it is often given to the children. You cannot keep children away from them. Kids do start with them as a “hobby”; just as we do in the cities when we get a rabbit for our kids as a pet.

In another project at Marima, two girls came to me at the project rabbit house and asked me if I wanted more rabbits. I was surprised and asked how they knew. One of the girls said:… “all the children in the school knows that you are buying rabbits !! “

I believe that involvement/participation of children in rabbit raising at home is very important. I also think that for such a community-rabbit farm partnership project, we need to involve the children too. It will also give children the experience/feeling of producing and selling (a basic principle of vocational training)
and to offer a way and incentive where children can get some pocket money. This simple thinking can contribute significantly to the success of the project because it is connected to the primary school children. It was this starting point that got me involved in Ndekero.

+++++jf

An approach for the 50 target families in the project is to keep 2 breeding does in one cage only. I believe that in families that still have young children, they will be the ones taking care of these rabbits. I would be happy to see that each child would want to have her/his own cage with 2 does do that they can get pocket money every month.

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Steven Lukefahr wrote:
> In my first job when I was working in Cameroon, one of the most
>successful rabbit projects that I started was at St. Mary's
>Catholic mission. There we established a rabbit unit and the female
>students received training and often had rabbit meat at the
>cafeteria. Also, they could obtain breeding stock to take to their
>home vilage.

Hi Steven

I am also getting good follow-up at 2 of my rabbit sites that are managed by Catholic nuns/Sisters (http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net/projects.htm) at
Maria Immaculata Educational Center(Kahawa West, Nairobi) and at the Our Lady of Annunciation Primary School, (Ndekero). Their reports on their “rabbit counts” show that.

These projects have similar goals as you explained.
Was that in the 80’s ?
Do you know if the project is still on-going ?

What type of cages did they have ?

Were they made with the palm material as shown in
http://www.globetree.org/africa/cameroon/index.htm#PHOTO GALLERY ?
++++jf

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Steven Lukefahr wrote:
>Why is the building of cages a "major hurdle"?

In the project description I wrote :
>The scale up of production at home is a major hurdle as it requires
>investments for building several cages. A female adult rabbit
>("doe") will produce an average of 6 young once every two months
> and takes about 5-6 months before slaughtered. For each doe,
>about 3-4 more cages are needed for meat production.
>So keeping a few does means having 3-4 times the number of cages.

The TOR (term of reference) for this discussion addresses a target group that is declared by ARC in http://arc.peacecorpsconnect.org/contest-rules and ......

>to deal with the fundamental problems of agricultural development
>and rural poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.

ARC called for
>…....people who have lived and worked in rural Sub-Saharan Africa
>– to offer perspective, expertise and creativity to generate action
>plans that will address the problems of farmers, who are mostly
>women, the rural poor and, more generally, the needs of rural
>communities in one of the most impoverished regions of the world.
>….To improving the livelihoods of millions of subsistence farmers,
>their families and their communities.

I have been fortunate with the opportunity to visit a good number of rural places in different climatic conditions (therefore different agricultural opportunities and limitations) in East Africa (since 1999) and also a brief visit to Cameroon.

Another important activity I indulge myself is to use “role playing” whenever I design and develop a project. So I have played various scenarios to come to “my” conclusion that the scale up of production at home is a major hurdle.

I hope we can organize an Internet Workshop one day on “Why is the scale up of meat rabbit production at home is a major hurdle for the rural poor”.

Before addressing this question, let us define what “scale-up” means to the rural poor or a rural poor family.
These could be our targets for consideration:
(i) family likes to eat 1 kg of rabbit meat once a month
(ii) family likes to have 1 kg of rabbit meat once a week
(iii) family has an offer and a buyer would come to pick up 30 adult meat rabbits once a month.

Some questions:
How many cages are required ?
How many rabbits does the family need to maintain ?
What are the materials needs ?
What are the management demands ?
Who can be involved in the family ?
... other factors ...

+++more later ....jacky

Cyara said 5 months ago

A lot can be done with 1 acre. Just some thoughts…

* Grow Moringa as a living fence and for nutritious leaves for the 50 families and forage for the rabbits. Also Ben-Oil from the pods
*Grow Mulberry. Rabbits love them and are fast and productive too.
*Establish which weeds in the area can be used for rabbit forage – low maintenance. Have an area where they can be encouraged or sown into the field.
*Grow bamboo…. Excellent building material for cages and even buildings… etc.
*Nice that offspring can be sold to the commercial rabbit farm. More cages can be built out of bamboo and families can learn about marketing from the Rabbit farm. A tremendous asset to the project.
*Really like the idea of integrating fish (especially the tilapia) with the rabbits. Is what I am planning. I would separate the catfish from the tilapia. They eat everything… even their own that are smaller than them. Canabalism can happen a bit with tilapia if not fed enough. The fish make an extra source of protein and rabbit dung makes good fish food. The dung will also increase phytoplankton and zooplankton growth in the pond – superb food for tilapia fry. Just need to watch pH levels and Dissolved Oxygen levels. But tilapia are very tolerant of low oxygen levels and will come to the top when this happens. Thought needs to be given as to how extra DO can be added quickly. I will be using a waterfall within an aquaponics system with flow forms. A rope pump can be turned by hand to lift water to fall maybe… if no electricity. Very low-tech to make. Consider a small aquaponics system in time too. A natural integration. The plants feed off the nitrates from the fish water. Lots of excellent fruit and vegetables can be added very ecomonmically to the diet and as forage for the rabbits. AP requires a very small footprint while producing splendidly. Bear in mind though, it takes a few months for the system to mature with all the bacteria adequately grown to convert ammonia to nitrites, and nitrites to nitrates. The plants feed on nitrates.
*Some of the rabbits can be wool rabbits in time… to increase products off the learned skills of raising rabbits. Leather can make clothes and blankets… etc.
*There seems to be a large ready made market all around for the rabbit meat - another excellent asset for the project.

50 families helped is a wonderful start. It will catch on.
Hope you win the prize money. It would be well used.

Chelle

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Thank you Chelle for your inputs and suggestions on opportunities for integration using Moringa, Mulberry, bamboo, fishes, wool rabbits.....Yes, many things could be done here to enhance existing activities. I would like to do many of them. The project idea is on partnership development with the rabbit farm. Funding for the rabbit farm will be from a separate source and is the continuation of an existing rabbit project (http://www.globetree.org/africa/ndekero)

I have done a lot of site surveys in many countries (see my recently upload photos on rabbits in Cambodia (2006, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5703&id=100000175854706&ref=nf) and Uganda (2008, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5795&id=100000175854706) but here in Ndekero….the many things that I had always wanted ,seem to be found in this one place. So what is unique about Ndekero ?
(i) the Nazareth Sisters have a 30 acre farm where there is a river (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=22960&id=100000175854706) . So we have water, sand, stones/rocks, forest, crop land, orchards (papaya, mango, banana, etc), (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2111&id=100000175854706). These activities are indicators of productivity, i.e. they are working the land and being productive. Also grass, weeds, leaves and crop residues for the rabbits.
(ii) there is a hard working community (cash poor but resource rich) who have much respect and appreciation for what the Nazareth Sisters are doing (school where children get lunch, orphanage/children’s home, providing some employment during the harvest season, …)
(iii) there exist (from my personal experience from earlier project) a very transparent accounts management with very good book keeping routines. This is so important to me and which I found lacking in many places in Kenya.
(iv) Dealing with the Nazareth Sisters who cannot take a salary will make it possible to be more cost effective which the small budgets that I have.
(v) and more…..
.

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Cyara wrote:
>Really like the idea of integrating fish (especially the tilapia)
> with the rabbits. Is what I am planning. .... The fish make an
> extra source of protein and rabbit dung makes good fish food.
>The dung will also increase phytoplankton and zooplankton growth
>in the pond – superb food for tilapia fry.

In a project site in Fiji (1995 http://www.globetree.org/jackyfoo/fiji/) at the Montfort Boys Town, goat houses were constructed over fish ponds so that the goat droppings could be swept into the ponds with Tilapia.

In Ndekero we will raise rabbits using the colony method and in open vegetated enclosures. The reason is to avoid costs in construction of cages, hutches and rabbit houses. Instead we will use rocks as the support for low roofs to create the shelters on elevated land for the rabbits. Savings will be diverted to digging the canal that will surround the 1 acre rabbit colony (partitioned into several enclosures).

In the Ndekero situation, it will not be easy to collect rabbit droppings except those collected from sweeping the feeding areas for the rabbits.

Q: do you know if rabbit droppings can be processed into fish feed ?

Alejandro (Paraguay) and Steven (USA) indicated the importance and role of earthworms as a nutrient "converter".

Q: Does anyone here have experience in the production and use of earthworms as fish feed ?

In Fiji, we used algae. For Ndekero, earthworms would be a good converter. The work demand for this conversion process is also low. The farm also has cow dung.

++++

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Subject: Building a rabbit house over the fish canal in Ndekero

A basic reason for raising rabbits in outdoor colonies is to avoid the need of building structures. Another reason is to give the security guard a clear view of the whole area.

There will be a need for a structure with indoor enclosures or that has outdoor “runs” to keep rabbits for a few days to prepare for an order for meat. For this there will have a multi-purpose building/workshop outside the “restricted” area (i.e. the 1 acre colony and the fish canal that borders it).

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

I was with some friends today and was asked :
Why not guinea pigs as in some countries in Latin America ?

In Kenya where "mistrust" level is generally high, people quickly think that a dressed rabbit looks like a cat. It is much worse as guinea pigs look like rats !!

I have an e-group at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/rabbit4meat/ (rabbit meat production in developing countries) where we have discussed how to present rabbits in local butcheries. The suggestions are:
(i) not to remove rabbit heads (with the ears).
(ii) start with one butchery and provide on a specific day of the week only your supply of rabbits. This will enable the butchery to gain the confidence of the people that s/he is selling rabbits and not cats.

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Subject: Integrated bio-systems and work plan

There are many opportunities to integrate different sub-systems so that wastes and under-utilised resources from one sub-system can be used by another. We are all impressed by the potential of such opportunities. However, many people with inadequate experience but have ambitious schemes for several sub-systems to create an eco-farm in one year will fail. There is a need to understand that each system is inter-connected with the others in their material flows. If you change the input of one system, it will affect the whole system. (See http://www.globetree.org/jackyfoo/ic-mfa/)

In 2000, I organized a Seminar-Workshop in Apia (Western Samoa) on "Biological Utilisation and Management of Wastes for Sustainable Development in Samoa: The Integrated Bio-Systems Approach" with JICA, University of the South Pacific, School of Agriculture, and the co-sponsorship of SPREP and Samoa Breweries. I presented many examples from different countries. Many of these successful systems take 5-10 years to establish themselves.

The Ndekero Challenge will focus at integrating a fish system to a rabbit system. We already have 3 rabbit projects in the area and we can launch the colony rabbit farm in 1 month (proposed Feb 2010). The call for weaned kits from the rural community will start in Dec 2009. Since the rabbit colonies will need earth to create elevated warren areas, the earth will come from the fish canal area. (thus “killing two birds with one stone”). The manual construction of the fish canals around the rabbit farm will take a few months due to lack of funding (unless someone can offer the free use of a bulldozer for a week). It will take 4-5 months for the rabbit colonies to establish themselves and by doing that land-based nutrients from rabbit enclosures will begin to leach into the ponds whenever it rains. Rabbit droppings and sweepings from the enclosures will be buried into the ground to reduce excessive leaching and for vermiculture. The timing is also correct for earthworm production and its use when we introduce the catfish several months after the Tilapia.

So in the first year we have enough time to (i) establish an operational rabbit farm rather quickly in partnership with the 50 families, (ii) a start-up the fish project and production of fish feed. The 2nd year will be used to observe and monitor the material flow of the two sub-systems. By then, we should be able to start to use the nutrient-rich canal water for intensive crop cultivation in the 2nd-3rd year period.
++++jf

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Subject: Hopewell School, Nakuru

From: "Alessandro Finzi" <finzi@unitus.it> Former President of the World Rabbit Science Association.
Date: Sun Sep 20, 2009 5:38 pm

The only effective system to widespread the habit of eating rabbit meat is to make people taste it. First time people must be invited. Also the way of cooking meat must be shown. Then they will become interested.A lot of way of preparing rabbit dishes are known.

Alessandro
+++

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

from Li Kangmin <li.kangmin@gmail.com>
date 21 September 2009 04:33
subject Re: [rabbit4meat] Re: The Ndekero Challenge: earthworms and rabbit droppings

Dear Jacky:
I wrote a small article about rabbit culture. Maybe it is informative for your new E-forum

New Feed for Hogs
Li Kangmin adapted from News S & T Daily Oct 12, 1999

New feed bank was found by Li Yumei in the outskirt of Yu County in Henan Province. She was the first one to find a new feed bank from rabbit droppings. In rabbit droppings there are a lot of multi-type amino acids, vitamin, etc. If the droppings can be used to feed hogs it can save large amount of feed. But rabbit droppings smell odor and it’s not tasty for pigs. Finally she used a simple method to treat to change the flavor of droppings to sour-fragrant taste so that pigs like to eat. The rabbit drops account for more than 90% of feed for pigs. The investigation indicates that there is no bad effect on the quality of pork. Practice indicates that droppings from 15 adult rabbits can raise one pig from 15 kg to 100 kg in four months. If one raises 60 rabbits and 12 pigs in a year she or he can earn more than 6000 RMB profit. It is a benign recycling of animal husbandry. The method must be by using effective microorganisms (EM) or beneficial microorganisms (BM) to treat rabbit droppings.
Also I raise a couple of rabbits and then clean the droppings for earthworm and use the vermi-compost for my courtyard plots.
++++

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Walter Garcia Simbol 21 September at 00:01

Yes I did just read through your proposal and went through the process of voting.

Are you currently undertaking this strictly as an academic exercise, or do you believe the conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa are currently good for implemention of your ideas?
+++

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Hi Walter

Thank you for your vote.

Ndekero Challenge is a rural development project and therefore not a strictly academic exercise. However being trained as an agricultural scientist/researcher, my skills will be useful when I teach the rural community the importance of monitoring productivity and for the analysis of the systems approach to identify problems and for the project evaluation.

Ndekero site was selected from 26 site visits. There were two other good sites but have risks management, internal conflicts, etc. The 30-acre farm of the Nazareth Sisters in Ndekero was the best among those I visited. I am sure there are many other suitable sites in Kenya and other sub-Saharan countries.

For the moment, what is important is to demonstrate that the Ndekero Challenge can be achieved in the Meru context. It is very important to demonstrate something locally. The old saying “Seeing is believing” is particularly true when you work with people. The target group of the ARC Contest is the rural poor. If you can demonstrate to rural people with a real case study and where they can come to see it for themselves, learn from it, then go home with a adult doe to start keeping rabbits, then I believe we have taken the first step. The Ndekero Challenge is a systems approach to support and continue to make rabbit keeping by rural farmers long lasting. Many programs have been launched by many others to encourage rabbit keeping in backyards for food and to generate income too. Often these projects do not link backyard operations with the market or a commercial rabbit farm. The Ndekero Challenge offers this as the stepping stone towards a rabbit meat industry in Meru (and Kenya).

+++++++jf.

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Subject: earthworms

Rabbit droppings have high nitrogen content and actually is a sought-after fertilizers for organic growers. Vermiculture is a doable in a rural setting and worms can be collected to feed fishes. The vermicompost can be used on vegetables at their backyards.
++++jf

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Subject: rabbit droppings and fish feed
> Li Kangmin adapted from News S & T Daily Oct 12, 1999
>... Practice indicates that drops from 15 adult rabbits can raise
>one pig from 15 kg to 100 kg in four months.
>...The method must be by using effective microorganisms (EM)

To Kangmin Li:
do you have any suggestion on how rabbit droppings can be converted
into feed for Tilapia and catfish (or any other fish) ?

Li Kangmin <li.kangmin@gmail.com>
date 22 September 2009 04:12
Dear Jacky:
In my knowledge rabbits are often raised far from fish ponds. So there is no report on that but it is possible.
++++

jackyfoo said 5 months ago

Forwarded message:
From: Paul Range
Jacky,
Back in the 70's I did indeed hand several rabbit cages over catfish tanks and the catfish did quite well. HOWEVER, this system was linear aquaponics, that is, I had a windmill pumping well water into the catfish tank constantly. This flushed most everything away that could potiently build up and harm the fish.

In this last system it ran really well for 5 months with one rabbit over a 250 gallon tank with 60 catfish in it. Then one day the plants started to suffer and I started checking levels of nitrates etc. I discovered that all the fish had died (none floated and I ran a really thick layer of duckweed on top at all times) and although the nitrates were just about right the pH was really high.

So here are my thoughts. The urine from the rabbit eventually raised the pH levels to unnacceptable levels. The feces was ok because the nitrates were acceptable. The duckweed which I use as an indicator of ok nitrates never suffered so I had no indicator of any problems.

You should be able to feed several cups a day of dry rabbit pellets (feces) to 60 catfish in a 250 gallon tank and everything be ok. I have not tried it this way so you are on your own.

On the other subject of using rabbit feces to grow worms. My experience is that it would take around 20 adult rabbits to supply enough feces to grow worms in to feed around 20 catfish. With the addition of unprinted cardboard, newspapers and some househould garbage you could grow more. Caution You can put way too many
worms in for the fish and your nitrate levels will spike.
++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

The first step towards a rabbit industry in Kenya :
NTV Kenya on 21 Sept featured a news item that is also available at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTuMoosJSQk

+++
more about rabbits in Kenya at
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000175854706&ref=profile

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Duplication of the model to other Sub-Saharan Countries

If there is a wish to duplicate the model to other sub-Saharan countries, the members of the WRSA branch for Sub-Saharan countries can be contacted. I know that Cameroon, Uganda and Nigeria would welcome the adoption. Even in Kenya, the project can be replicated in different parts of the country and anywhere where there is river or lake water.

I would love to coordinate a regional effort such as this.
++++jf

merx said 4 months ago

This is a very good project.I know this area, and I am confident such projects are what is needed for economic freedom in this part of Kenya.

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

One of the goals of ARC in their search of good ideas is to see how ideas can be duplicated in Sub-Sahara African countries
(http://www.countriesandcities.com/regions/sub-sahara-africa.htm).

I am now trying to find sites and people who are interested to apply the "Ndekero Model" in Kenya as well as in other the Sub-Sahara countries.

The basic requirements for the model is access to 1 acre (4000 m2) of land (or more) for the rabbit colony farm. A source of water will be needed for integration with fish farming.

The Ndekero Model currently has three project components.

(A) The first component is the establishment of a rabbit colony
farm (and integrated it with fish farming).
This is the Phase 2 of a project (Phase 1) that was funded by the Swedish Catholic Church. See work from Phase 1 in
http://www.globetree.org/africa/ndekero/
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2111&id=100000175854706
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=113672&id=600466082.

The Phase 2 farm will produce 1200 kg of rabbit meat and 1500 kg of
fish per year. Income will provide part-time employment to 10 poor
parents of school children with high drop-out risks. See schematic
diagram for farm in
http://www.globetree.org/africa/ndekero/ibs-ndekero-ws.jpg

(B) The ARC component is for the rural community and proposes an approach where 50 families can raise rabbits and partner with the rabbit colony farm.
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net/scheme01-ws.jpg

(C) A third component is the use of the area around the fish canals since water is available. For Ndekero and since there is a school, the idea is to involve the children to grow fruit trees (e.g. papaya) and other stuffs for their school lunches. In another site where there is no school, an allotment garden could be created for the local community to take advantage of the nutrient-rich water generated by fish farming.

++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

merx wrote:
>I know this area, and I am confident such projects are what
>is needed for economic freedom in this part of Kenya.

Hello Mercy Chekwanda
thank you for your comment. NTV Kenya on 21 Sept released its feature new item on rabbit meat at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTuMoosJSQk

In my 7 projects (http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net) I have been advocating (2008) to price rabbit meat at 200 Ksh. I am pleased that see that in the video (Sept 2009) the price is 250 Ksh per kg.
++++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

This project idea (http://arc.peacecorpsconnect.org/view/653/) is also being discussed in
(i) http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/colonyraisingrabbits
(ii) http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/rabbit-cam
(iii) http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/RR_SSA
(iv) http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000175854706&ref=profile

bamowo said 4 months ago

Thanls how can i be part ofthe project.I have a project on School safety and security .

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Hi

ARC's focus in this contest is to address fundamental problems of agricultural development and rural poverty in Sub-Saharan African countries; especially to help women, the rural poor and the needs of rural agricultural communities. Under such conditions, it is very likely that there is no electricity nor tap water as in my project site in Ndekero.

All my earlier projects (http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net) are with schools and children's homes in Kenya and Globetree's work with vulnerable children extends to Uganda and Tanzania (with earlier projects in Brazil and Indonesia). In these school/home projects, security and safety are one of the main concerns and they often hire or have their own security guards.

For the Ndekero Challenge, there will be a rabbit colony farm of 1 acre (4000 m2) and to contain about 1000 rabbits (asset value of 200,000 Ksh). We will have a 10 m wide canal surround it to serve as a physical barrier and to grow fish; instead of constructing a fence that extends 2 ft underground and at least 3 ft (1m) high. The fish "canal" will also yield an income (wire fencing dont).

My concern in security is related to predators (dogs) that will attempt to swim across the 10 meter wide water (1 m deep) to prey on the rabbits and, of course, thieves.

Could you advise on what other measures I can take to reduce these risks of predation and thefts ?

++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Subject: tanning of rabbit hides

6 months (or less) after the project start up (proposed in 2010), the rabbit colony should be able to provide 100 adult rabbits every month. This means that every month, 100 rabbit hides will be available for tanning. Tanned hides can be crafted to make jackets, ornamented on bags as a value-added item, pillow covers for sofas, and a variety of other items and souvenirs (e.g. rabbits tail and feet). We like the target groups to be involved in making these too.

P.S. I have also started a discussion group on tanning of rabbit hides too. Please join if you are interested:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/rabbits-tanning-hides
+++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Jane Munga 27 September at 22:17

Jacky,
You got my vote. It is good to see programs that add to the enrichment of the Kenyan people, especially in economic development.

Rabbit keeping that is a unque idea and also fish farming, my question is the fish farm also going to be in the Meru area?
Anyway all the best!
Cheers,
Jane

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Yes, fish farming will be integrated with the rabbit colony farm in Ndekero (about 30 minutes drive from Meru town) where there is a river in the proposed project site. see
Http://www.globetree.org/africa/ndekero (for March 2009 project)
and more photos in
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000175854706&ref=profile
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=113672&id=600466082
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2111&id=100000175854706

I just got news from Muthambi Girls High School where I have a rabbit project (http://www.globetree.org/africa/muthambi/index.htm). The drought has also hit their 25 acre farm. Their water source is from a borehole. In the Ndekero Challenge project, we will have about 270 m of canal and this can also serve as a water reservoir. If we plan harvesting the fishes to co-incide with the dry season, we can use the water after the harvest for crop irrigation. (see a proven case project in Fiji http://www.globetree.org/jackyfoo/fiji/)
++++++jf

ngigi316 said 4 months ago

you have my vote jacky, Patrick Ngigi, the guy from Dagoretti, let me know how to vote or is it thru this comment. i will be mailing you regarding stephjoy adn CGC

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

from José Ireneu dos Remedios Furtado (Secretary-General, World Academy of Art and Science, http://www.worldacademy.org/content/trustees)

Jacky:
Are rabbits indigenous to Africa? They were a pest in Australia where they were introduced and went wild, eventually spreading myxomytosis.
Best, Jose

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

In Africa--- yes ... (there are indigenous rabbits) but meat rabbits are of foreign origin and distributed by Kenyan Rabbit Breeding Centers under the Ministry of Agriculture. The rabbits have been around for several decades.

The "pest in Australia" story has hindered the application of rabbit
colony farming methods in other countries. In Meru where my proposed
site is, an escaped rabbit will not survive for long outside the
protected colony .... predators (dogs) and humans !!!. will probably
be waiting for them to escape :-) . A totally different situation
that happened in Australia.

We will have 800-1000 rabbits in 4000 m2 (i.e. 1 rabbit to 4-5 m2 space). At least 100 rabbits will be removed/harvested every month. The colony farm will be surrounded by a moat (10 m2 wide) that will be for fish farming. see schematic diagram
: http://www.globetree.org/africa/ndekero/ibs-ndekero-ws.jpg
+++

lhayat said 4 months ago

It is a sound proposal
LIAQAT HAYAT

juliustangka said 4 months ago

Hi Jacky,
I suggest you incorporate a biogas system to digest the waste and produce biogas for electricity generation. The digested matter can then be used in the fishing area and also to grow highly nutritive aquatic plants to supplement rabbit food. I have carried out successfully such projects in some villages in Cameroon.
Best of Luck

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From Chris Ziomkowski (Thailand)
Hi Jacky.
I was just talking with my wife last week about raising rabbits at her house upcountry. They already have a fish pond, and the idea of using the rabbit dung as an auxiliary food source for the fish is interesting. I'll be very interested in watching this project. I may try and adapt some of your ideas.
+++++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Hi Chris.... good to hear from you. You have bamboo which is a fantastic material for fencing and for making cages and even make the first floating rabbit colony in the world on a fish pond.

I know the working speed that your wife and you have... and I will land up learning from you instead.

I have expressed interests already on rabbit-fish farming from DR Congo at an eco-village in Kibeti, and I know a couple of friends with suitable sites in South Africa, Uganda and Kenya.

I should be thinking of starting a discussion group for rabbit-fish IBS too.
++++ jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From Alessandro Finzi (Former President of the World Rabbit Science Association), Rabbit and Guinea Pig Unconventional Keeping Experimental Centre, Animal Production Department
University of Tuscia - 01100 Viterbo, Italy

Dear Jacky,
I see that you continue to develop your idea of a free range rabbit keeping. Please, remember that you must activate a self-catching system (on the contrary you have to shoot them) and keep the density of rabbit very low (on the contrary - diseases will make a problem). Broilers, exceeding bucks and old does must be collected regularly and sent to the market. I recommend this because I have seen too many time people increasing quickly the number of rabbits and loosing, at the end, the lot of them.

I hope you are very successful and I should like to be informed on the standard results. I have not enough experience on this system of keeping rabbits and I have much to learn.

Regards. Alessandro

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Dear Julius
>I suggest you incorporate a biogas system to digest the waste and
> produce biogas for electricity generation.

people have tried to use goat droppings in digestors but face difficulties because goat/sheep droppings will float and this enhances scum formation.
Q: did you have such problems ? and how did you solve them.

The farm has a few cows and cow dung is certainly a good material for the biogas digestor. Cow dung is now used as a fertiliser. The real need for biogas is at the school kitchen to prepare 200+ lunches. There will be logistics issues as the cows are at the other end of the farm. Bringing the cows to the school and near the kitchen presents other difficulties. While the biogas idea itself is good (as was used in http://www.globetree.org/jackyfoo/fiji/ using pigs), for the Ndekero project - we are still thinking of vermicomposting (until a better idea comes up). Logistically workers need to sweep the enclosures area and then put the sweepings into nearby vermiculture shallow pits.

JT>..biogas system to digest the waste and produce biogas
>for electricity generation. The digested matter can then
>be used in the fishing area and also to grow highly nutritive
>aquatic plants to supplement rabbit food. I have carried out
>successfully such projects in some villages in Cameroon.

is this a rabbit-fish system ?

Yes, we can grow aquatic plants, e.g. duckweed. I have a friend who harvest duckweed, dries them and use it as Tilapia fish feed.

Slaughter of rabbits will yield gut materials and these can also be used as fish feed.
++++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Chelle Lewis <chelle248@gmail.com>
I have watched Mr Jacky Foo's project in Kenya with great interest. The "Ndekero Challenge Approach" is the kind of project I too wish to raise up, here in South Africa. It has been in my heart to help those who are in great need to raise rabbits in their backyard for meat and partner with a commercial business to market any excess meat. The "Ndekero Challenge Approach" is a wonderful inspiration for others to follow. We have no commercial rabbit farms around here, and so I would have to adapt all that I learn from Mr Foo to my particular situation. This is an important lesson from the "Ndekero Challenge Approach". Replication can then be done in terms of each particular environment. I may have to become that commercial rabbitry that those that are later helped can sell to.

My project is only at building stage at present, here on my farm. I am also already establishing forage for the rabbits as I too want to do colony raising of rabbits as well. I will be buying in French Angora rabbits because they are a good dual purpose breed. I also want to integrate fish in the whole concept as he has chosen to do.

In learning from the "Ndekero Challenge Approach" I will be able to set up a rabbit business, and then help other families to do the same, by enabling them to use the infrastructure already set in place.

I would love to see the Ndekero Challenge approach implemented in South Africa also, not only in Sub-Sahara Africa. This concept has the potential to help a great many people.

With best wishes,
Michelle Lewis
South Africa.

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

thank you Michelle for your email.

I have not considered French Angora rabbits for dual purpose (meat and wool) and have not seen an Angora in Kenya.

The enthusiasm of keeping rabbits has been revived recently in Kenya and I believe also in Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo and Uganda where I have contacts.

Yesterday at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/rabbit4meat/ (an e-forum on rabbit meat in Africa
Farida T. Mustafa wrote:
>Am a 22 year old lady from Nairobi Kenya and I have
>been interested in keeping rabbits for both
>commercial and breeding purposes. So far I have
>11 rabbits all Californian and I want to upgrade them
>to other species like French lop and the like.
>Could you kindly inform me where they are available.

The e-forum has been very useful to give support to people and to connect people to people too. This will also help the Ndekero project too.

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Site in DRC is an eco-village in Kibeti village with 400 orphans. Kibeti village is in Sector Sungu (a Territory of Masimanimba in the Bandundu Province). It has a population of about 20,000 people. Eco-village is on a 30-ha land of the Jatukik Providence Foundation (http://jatukikprovidence.org/) that borders a river and creek. The vegetation there is "savannah steppes" like.
+++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Q: How will Prize money (20,000 US$) be used:

Budget estimates and breakdown:
materials and construction of 50 cages (1st Group) : 2,000 US$
materials and construction of 50 cages (2nd Group) : 2,000 US$
allotment garden with children : 1000 US$
meetings, training and site visits (100 persons) : 3,000 US$
materials and set-up for tanning of rabbit hides : 1,500 US$
documentation, reporting : 2,000 US$
local coordination : 2,000 US$
International coordination/travel : 5,000 US$
Project administration: 1,500 US$.
+++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Q: Can the Ndekero Challenge Model be replicated or adopted by others easily ?

Yes....I certainly think so.... There are 2 basic components in this cooperation (rural community and rabbit farm). There are also options in the level of development for each components but in each case, they can always work in partnership.

1. Rabbit Colony Farm
Basics: land space needed is about 10 m2 per breeding doe. Weaned rabbits are removed from mother and placed into separate enclosure(s).
Options: physical barrier is needed to prevent escapes and entry of predators. There are various options and methods for creating the "barrier".

2. Rural Community:
Basics: a unit is a rabbit cage for 2 breeding does (1 m2 or more in size) at a family backyard. Family can have more than 1 unit.
Option 1: weaned rabbits is sold to or exchanged for an adult rabbit at the rabbit farm
Option 2: family who wishes to keep weaned rabbits until they are 2 kg in weight can still sell to rabbit farm that helps in marketing.

Ndekero Design:
Ndekero design is unique because it uses water as the barrier and from which fish can be an additional income source.

++++jf

kenyansforchange said 4 months ago

Jacky, all the best!
Jane Munga

mzaliwapoa said 4 months ago

how can i get a breeding couple.Am really touched and i would like to start a project in Machakos.Kenya.Good work

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Jambo Dr Jane Munga

Thank you for your best wishes and your continued support via "Kenyans for Change". I was just watching a TV documentary on Botswana and the role of the government & its anti-corruption agency in the "rapid" development of the country which attracted foreign investors.

Raising rabbits also has a story to tell. In many Sub-Sahara African countries, some time or other there has been some advocacy and the introduction of meat rabbits as a source of protein, and for income generation at the homestead level. As a backyard activity, it has been a success as many families have continued to raise a few rabbits for their own consumption. This has however not led into a rabbit meat industry in Kenya.

There is now a growing interest in many places in Kenya about making rabbit meat available in local butcheries and supermarkets. Though this is very good, there is a greater need to provide a strategy that can link families with rabbits to the market. The Ndekero Challenge encourages the setting up of rabbit farms and at the same time encourages families to partner with these rabbit farms.


A rabbit colony farm is planned in a 30 acre farm of the Nazareth Sisters in Ndekero (outside Meru Town) in 2010. It will produce 100 kg of meat every month. The goal of this farm is to use income to give part-time jobs to 10 poor parents so that their children dont drop out of primary school. The Ndekero Challenge is to foster partnership between the local community and this farm.

Your vote for the project and votes from members of "Kenyans for Change" will certainly bring change in Kenya. My dream is to help Kenya build its rabbit meat industry and to share a future Kenyan success story with other rural communities in other sub-sahara african countries.

+++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Hello Charles Peter

>how can i get a breeding couple.

The easiest way is to ask people in Machakos. There is usually someone in the neighbourhood or the next village who may have a few rabbits. This is a good way to start since you get to visit someone who has been keeping rabbits. Another resource person is your local butcher.

See if these contacts can help you:
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net/contact-us.htm

For pure-breeds:
http://www.globetree.org/africa/assoc-members/murithi.htm

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From Don Howard 04 October
Hi Jacky,
Our team arrived in Kenya thursday to work with rural schools. We leave this morning for a week in Meru. I'd like to contact the person starting the rabbit farm in Meru. It might fit with what we are doing to help establish a feeding program for poor schools.

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

thank you Don for visiting the Our Lady of Annunciation Primary School at Ndekero. (http://www.globetree.org/africa/ndekero) You will find more pictures in http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2111&id=100000175854706&op=6

In Kenya, there is a program "Feed the Child" that provides basic food supplies to schools (maize, rice, beans, flour, oil, sugar, etc). While the intention is good, the approach is solely "charity".

I believe that feeding programs need to encourage/enforce food production in schools. Many school compounds have under-utilised land space and children should be encouraged to grow fruit trees (as well as vegetables).

Our Lady of Annunciation Primary School provide lunch to about 200 children. The menu for lunch is basic but it is a good meal. You should try it when you have an empty stomach !! :-)

As you know, I have a grant application for the establishment of a rabbit colony farm and this is to be integrated with fish farming. A 3rd component has been proposed i.e. to use the nutrient-rich water from the fish pond. See http://www.globetree.org/africa/ndekero/ibs-ndekero-ws.jpg

If I have extra funds, I would invest it into the overall implementation of the project scheme because it will generate products that cab add "value" to the existing lunch program.
+++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Rowan Godfrey

Dear Jacky.

My name is Rowan Godfrey & I am currently working for an NGO called Real Impact based out of Thika. Our principle is similar to yours, except we are primarily about horticulture. However, we would like to have some Rabbits, and some of the projects we are working with have rabbits in one way or another.

We work with all institutions, schools, hospitals, prisons, orphanages etc. but we are not just about working with children as your group is, the principle of Real Impact is that we help the institution get funding and develop their kitchen garden, this is run by the members - generally employees or, for example, in schools, it might be the parents of poor kids.

The members do the work for free, and in return get a free lunch everyday (with food from the garden), food to take home each week from the garden, and a supplementary income depending on sales.

We would very much like to visit some of your projects, ideally when you are visiting, and maybe discuss some partner style work. The website for the NGO is www.realimpact.or.ke but it is still under construction, there is a pamphlet up though.

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Dear Rowan

thank you for contacting me.

I am pleased to know that your focus is horticulture which makes you "privileged" because you have access to larger land space than apartment dwellers and city houses. Integrating horticulture with other farm activities is highly essential to increase the per unit land productivity, i.e. how can you get more out of a unit of land space in a sustainable and environmentally sound manner. Your http://www.realimpact.or.ke/RealImpact_infoPack.pdf document highlights much more opportunities for eco-farm and community development.

I am sure that we can find things to do together since my development work background is on design and development of integrated farming/biosystems. I have also visited many probation hostels in Kenya (including the Rescue Center in Thika) and prisons in Uganda, Western Samoa too with the intention of developing integrated farming systems with them.

The systems approach in the Ndekero Challenge project concerns partnership between backyard rabbit keeping by families and a rabbit colony farm. The model can be adopted at another physical location e.g. in Thika where there is a growing number of people who have expressed interests in raising rabbits. I will be happy to discuss how it can be applied in Real Impact activities.

Please check http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net/projects.htm for sites to visit.
++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From: David Nahinga 04 October

Hi Jacky,
I have read about the Rabbit project on the wall of the group i run,¨Thats a brilliant Idea
I also invite you to join the e-Africa Business Club here.
Thanks

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From: Jennifer Nodine DeHart (edited)

Good morning, Jacky.
I am a member of a homesteading forum and we have a new member from Kenya. He posted a question about starting rabbitries... EXACTLY like and for the the same reasons you do.
I sent him in your direction by posting your website to him.
I certainly hope he contacts you to get some guidance etc..
Just thought I would give you a head's up to look for him.

I love what you are doing! A person really making a difference in the world. Thank you for all of your efforts and congratulations on all of your successes.
jen dehart

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From: Evans Muriu

Hello.
I am Evans Muriu from Kenya and I am interested in your rabbit project.

I started and successfully run an NGO in Kenya that seeks to make the youth a resourceful people and help them overcome some barriers to success. We use talent and entrepreneurship skills to achieve our objective for many youths do wrong things due to idleness.

I was hoping we would work together and initiate your project in Kenya so the youth can benefit.

Kuna Vijana also helps 153 families who were displaced from their homes after the 2007 general elections. The rabbit project can get back to their feet and get them earning.

Is it possible to work together? I am planning to visit the IDP camp end of this month.
++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Hello Evans

I am really happy to know of the impressive list of activities by Kuna Vijana (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36387201398) and your interests in rabbit keeping for the IDPs. I will look forward to opportunities to work with your organization in Kenya.

For IDPs, raising rabbits can provide them with the occasional luxury of eating a "festive" meat and to serve as pets to children in order to bring back the love they may have lost due to their displaced situation. Yes, it can provide income but a mechanism for marketing (as in the case of the Ndekero challenge) and partnership with a rabbit farm needs to be created. The community could run the rabbit farm and the children are the partners.... is a possible scenario which will however need strong will power / leadership in order to realise it.

I have done quite a lot of project site identification and hope that a future visit to Kenya will enable me to do that. Before this happens and as you will visit the IDP camp, please find out if any of the families have rabbits at the camp or had rabbits before. It is always useful to start with them and to get groups of children excited.
++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From Michelle Lewis (excerpts....edited)

In rural Africa it is not really practical to go too in-depth in terms of market research. The money is better used elsewhere. People are hungry in places. Give them rabbit stew at a price that undercuts anything else offered and you will have your market.

Best set-up is if rabbit production has no inputs except labour and raw materials on hand. That is what I am going for. Initial set up might require some forage trees be given etc... but maintenance should not involve financial outlay.] They breed so fast that turnover is more important than price.

In terms of acquiring a taste for rabbit...It is mostly skill with flavouring that makes a dish popular or not anyway. When hungry and staring at a low-cost meal, it is amazing how good food tastes... :)

I think your idea of trading for desired goods is excellent. Even labour can be bartered in terms of hours-for-food if necessary... or labour to afford a live rabbit... etc. All housing would need to be shown to be adequately provided before transfer.... again bartering for the skill or materials. Skills in caring for the rabbit learned in helping out too. A way of replication that demonstrates a willingness to do what it takes to get up and running. The down-side in managing itinerant labour is that it is time-consuming if not regulated easily into the daily shedule... but worth it if the aim is to feed the hungry and lift their vision to a better way of life. So many have learned to live only for today... so broken by the endless grind of survival...
+++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Today I had a group discussion with some students and teachers who were interested in doing volunteer work in East Africa. The Ndekero project was presented to them. Here is one of their questions:¨
Q: is the project scalable ?
A: YES

(i) in Feb 2009, we started with a rabbit house that was aimed to produce 10 kg or rabbit meat per month. In July'09, the school reported 71 rabbits in the house. see http://www.globetree.org/africa/ndekero

(ii) the ARC project will produce 100 kg per month (2010). This is a scale up by 10 times from the Feb 2009 project. Due to high costs in construction of cages, rabbits will be raised in open vegetated encloses and as colonies.

(iii) if scale up proves itself to be successful by the end of 2010, there is further opportunity to aim for 2000 kg per month. Land space is available.

(iv) As a model for adoption, the Ndekero Challenge approach is based on the partnership of the community (villagers) and a large scale operation (rabbit farm). Scale up also means an increase in the number of villager participants. The project will start with 50 families, many of them are poor parents who need a part-time job so that they can pay schooling costs of their children. I hope that before the end of 2010, awareness and local interest will expand and more families will join.
+++++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From: Aparna Sundar 07 October

Deeply moved by your work. Really amazing.
Please add Sri Bhagvan, founder of Oneness University in your FB.
His vision is for enlightenment.
His website www.onenessuniversity.org

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

contd on scale up:

(i) feed (green biomass) is an important factor to consider. I am not updated on the current drought situation and how it may have affected Meru. My concern is change in the water level of the river that runs through the Nazareth Sisters farm.

Depending on the vegetation in the rabbit colony enclosures, 1-2 large sacks of grass may be needed for every 100 rabbits per day. It will take about 1 hr per sack (collection and delivery). To cut labour costs, spray irrigation of pasture may be needed. Purchase of grass from villagers is a way to enable them to earn income.

During the dry season, tray germination of seeds into sprouts may be needed to produce fresh fodder and as a water-efficient method. This will be cheaper than pellets which cost about 50 cts (US$) per kilo (about 35 Ksh) .
++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Q: How original is the idea ?

The Ndekero Challenge has 4 four components. (this was described in an earlier comment)
(A) rabbit colony farm
(B) fish farm
(C) rural community
(D) gardening

The basic components are the rabbit farm and the community. Fish farm and gardening are add-ons which will enhance the system.

What is original is the combination of the various components.

(i) Rabbit-fish system: this is an original idea for rabbit colony farm and fish farming. Even raising rabbits in colonies is new in Africa.
(ii) partnership between community and rabbit farm is also new and original. Commercial cage rabbit farms do not do this because they are afraid of the transmission of diseases. The lost of animals will also meant a lost of investments in the costs of commercial feed pellets. In this project, rabbits (6-8 weeks old or fryers (for slaughter) can be received once a week (e.g. every Saturday). They will be quarantined in open enclosures.
(iii) though gardening by school children is not new, the activity in combination with a rabbit colony farm and a fish farm does make it very unique.
++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Q: How practical is your project ?

The Ndekero challenge is the partnership of a rabbit farm (using its market links) with a rural community. The project addresses the issue of children dropping out of schools because parents may not have cash to pay for school fees. Thus if income can be generated by the parents, children will stay in school.

The rural community:
The homes in the area often not connected to the electricity grid and have no piped water. Some may even have solar powered electricity to run their TV sets. They do have land to cultivate food and are still connected (within walking distances to public transport network) to a village/town center and schools. They are subsistence farmers and will welcome any ideas that can help them generate some cash income. Rabbit keeping is not new to the people. Many already keep rabbits for occasional meat consumption. They are capable to keep a few rabbits but will not venture into a large number because they lack a market link.

The School started a rabbit project in 2009 that can handle a population of about 100 rabbits. In 2010 (pending funding), a rabbit colony on 1 acre will be established and it can provide 100 fryers per month for slaughter. The market intervention will be to replace beef at targeted clients that requires a volume supply at boarding schools and a hospital. There is a potential supply to road-side meat grillers in Meru town. Meru municipal council has a population of about 140,000 inhabitants. Meru town is the 8th largest City in Kenya and the business, agricultural and educational center for the northeast of Kenya.

+++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Investment requirements

Small amounts of investments by a family may be needed for the construction of a rabbit cage. Cages can basically be constructed with local materials (poles, branches of trees and local thatched roof) and with some nails. If commercial materials are used, these will be wooden planks, roofing materials and wire netting. It is also possible to construct a cage with mud by making re-enforced walls.

Farm investments is mainly in the construction of the physical barrier around the 1 acre rabbit colony to prevent the rabbits from escaping and to prevent predator entry. In the rabbit colony there will be a need to construct fences to create enclosures. Enclosures have a multi-purpose for containing rabbits into small colonies and to facilitate catching of the rabbits. Also they will provide additional protection from predators. Fencing will also enable farrowing of pasture land and the re-growth of grass.

The operation will be labour intensive as feed (green biomass) will be collected. This will be done by parents of school children. Management of breeding can be done by one trained person with the help of an assistant for overall management.
+++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

How can the Ndekero Challenge be replicated so that it can benefit the rural community in Sub-Sahara African Countries ?

I have given thoughts to various approaches and welcome comments on them. In all these approaches, families in a rural community will benefit because they can sell their rabbits to the rabbit farm.

Approach 1: Aid-based project with a Charity organization
Profits: donated to charity
(i) a local partner organization or a person with a property.
(ii) sponsors will cover construction and start-up costs
(iii) a person is hired to manage the farm with the assistance of the local community
(iv) individual families from the rural community sell their rabbits to the local farm

Note: Approach 1 is similar to the Rabbit Colony Farm project of Globetree (Sweden) with the local partner – Nazareth Sisters – at Ndekero. Local partner provides the land and responsible for the management and future success of the operation. The sponsor provides funding and a field officer for several months to help construct, train and work together with the manager of the site until the project can be managed by the local partner.

Approach 2: Business venture
Profits: to company or owner
(i) a business investment by a company/a person that will cover all costs/investments and management of the business
(ii) individual families from the rural community sell their rabbits to the local farm

Approach 3: A Community Shares System : Model 1 – Family-Group business
Profits: shared among the Family group members
(i) Family group members provide land and partial investments
(ii) Aid organization provides a loan with no interest or a very low interest rate
(iii) Family group Members manage the project, work load and profits are shared according
(iv) individual families from the rural community sell their rabbits to the local farm

Approach 4: A Community Shares System : Model 2 – Cooperative community project
Profits: shared by cooperative members
(i) cooperative/local NGO hires land for use
(ii) Aid organization provides a loan with no interest or low interest
(iii) cooperative members buy shares in terms of cash or provides labor-for shares
(iv) farm is managed by the Cooperative/local NGO
(v) individual families from the rural community sell their rabbits to the local farm

Approach 5: ??? any suggestions ???

+++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From: aguti anna grace (Uganda) agutiannagrace

Hi, jacky
it is my prayers that you go through and i know i will also benefit if all goes well. I have talked to many of my friends but the problem is money for accessing internet-otherwise many were willing to join in and vote for you.

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Thank you for your prayers.

Popularity voting via Internet is a system for voting and can be used to achieve certain purposes but like always…. “there is no perfect system” (yet).

I believe the Ndekero Challenge approach can be applied in your country too. I have visited your national probation center outside Kampala and the Luzira Prison too for project site identification. These sites would benefit from the Ndekero Challenge approach too.
As you are in contact with many of the NGOs and community based organizations where there is a need to enhance their income generation, establishing a rabbit farm and community partnership will benefit both groups.

I hope we can develop a project together in Uganda using this approach.

+++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Introducing meat rabbits in Bangladesh

I met Ms Begum Rokeya (SUS - Sabalamby Unnyan Samity; www.sabalamby.org) several days ago in Stockholm and spent hours over lunch and to view her video about the methods for project development, need identification and participation of the community to improve the economic status of people (by promoting agriculture, livestock, fishery, handicraft and other micro-enterprise activities). Micro-finance has provided great impact on poor women development and the sustainability of their operations (started in 1986 and now has more than 300 staff).

Rabbit keeping (and poultry) will always be attractive because of quick results and low investments when compared to goats and cows. You can get baby rabbits (gestation period) in 30 days (goats: 150 days, cattle: 280 days). Rabbits give birth to an average of 5 kits and 8 or more kits are not uncommon. Rabbits eats a large variety of greens and crop residues; and thus easy to collect (grass, weeds, leaves) or generated from weeding crop fields. The meat is lean and has a very low cholesterol content when compared to other animal protein. It is encouraged as a healthy meat for hospital patients.

When the bird flue hit Asian countries several years ago, many poultry farmers switched to rabbit farming and discovered it as a business with less risks. Rabbit meat tastes like chicken and thus will be very easy to introduce as an alternative to chicken.
++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Q: How likely is the project to be successful ?

The target group is rural farmers and mostly doing subsistence farming with low input requirements. They produce small quantities for sale and will get more cash value when their products are sold to local market places rather than to food processing factories. Most of them will not have access to computers that promises e-agriculture to large scale farming estates. Within these constraints, diversification of products will provide the food security that such families need. So projects that will help farmers to generate products or food from crops or micro-livestock in a short time are attractive. Rabbits can do that. What is also very important is that participation of the majority of the family members i.e. children. Each child can easily take care of 2 adult rabbits for breeding.

Backyard rabbit keeping for home meat consumption has been introduced in many countries. What has been lacking is a way to link such backyard operations to the market. This project provides this missing link, i.e. a local rabbit farm that will receive rabbits from the families and market them along with its own produce. The rabbit farm will be at the Nazareth Sisters 30 acre farm. There is a school with 200 primary children. Thus rural families are already connected and their children go there 5 days a week during school days. No special trip is needed as children can deliver the rabbits once a week. Such a unique and favourable project conditions will strengthen chances of success for the project.

The project has another goal which is to provide part-time jobs to poor parents who are unable to make full cash payments for the school fees. Keeping rabbits can provide cash income whenever rabbits are available and for emergencies. If five children in a family can keep 10 adult rabbits in 5 cages, it is possible to get 15-20 rabbits every month. This added activity to a subsistence farmer will certainly provide direct impact on food security and cash income.

Farmers will immediate see the common sense in this project idea.

+++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From: Evans Muriu 10 October

Hope you ar well.. there are 7 rabbits now at the idp camp....
(and) 70 people have kept rabbits but after the political unrest they lost them.

What do you have in mind that can be of benefit to them.
++++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

To Evans Muriu

thanks for the info that of 153 families at the Jikaze IDP camp in Naivasha, and that 70 people had rabbits before and you found that there are actually 7 rabbits there now.

You asked: Q: What do you have in mind that can be of benefit to them.?

(i) displacement of IDPs affects women and girls much more than kids. They suffer in silence. I think introduction of rabbits will have an occupational therapeutic effect too (apart from having some meat by Christmas). So if you can get several 8 week old rabbits, it will be great. I have a contact list where you might call to see if rabbits: http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net/contact-us.htm

(ii) for devloping a longer term project, we need to know who owns the land where the camp is now ? if we are to establish a rabbit colony farm (harvesting 100 rabbits every month), there must be some long term plan for the use or access to the land due to project/sponsor investments. This might be an opportunity for your youth organization (Kuna Vijana) to gain access to land space. I am thinking of 4-8 acres of land.

Please investigate. Thanks

Note: it is important to know if there is an existing community near by (who are not IDPs) so that when IDPs move, the local community can benefit too.

Could you check.

+++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Dear Evans

I found out more about Jikaze IDP community at http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/naivasha which also has a map.
In http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/4000/4341/naivasha_... , how far is the river from Jikaze ?.

Rainfall in Naivasha varies from 156.0 to 1134.0 (mm/month).
http://www.world66.com/africa/kenya/theriftvalley/naivasha/lib/climate

+++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Source: http://africanagriculture.blogspot.com/2009/10/severe-drought-causes-soc...
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2009

Severe drought causes social shifts amongst Kenyan pastoralists
".....Severe drought causes social shifts amongst Kenyan pastoralists. Traditionally, life for women in pastoralist communities in the central Kenya region of Laikipia revolves around taking care of their children, leaving the men to provide for the family. However, a prolonged drought in the area, which has resulted in significant livestock deaths, has seen these roles reversed, with more women venturing into small-scale business to feed their families.

Government officials estimate that at least 600,000 livestock (cattle, sheep and goats) have died in the past three months in the area. Dorcas Piroris, 50, from Olkinyei in Laikipia North District, is selling tourist trinkets to supplement her family’s income.....
“The major problem is getting customers because we do not have a selling point like those in curio shops. We rely on people to come to our homes. ....."

Here is were the Ndekero Challenge project is unique...., in the partnership between families and the rabbit farm to provide this missing "selling point".

Villagers in Ndekero need only to go to the rabbit farm (the primary school) that will help to slaughter/market the rabbits for the villagers.
++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Rabbits as "petty cash"

In a recent seminar in Stockholm with Kenyan visitors, they talked about the women's rights and a unique exploitation that is happening at fish landing points by the Lake Victoria. Some women go there to buy fishes so that they can sell them in markets or smoke them. Fishermen exploit the situation by asking for free sex, otherwise they would not sell fishes to women. One NGO's suggestion was to encourage the women to take an alternative income activity, e.g. to grow water melon which can give a good income.

A daily income is often very important for many poor families as they live from hand to mouth. If they are unable to earn some money, their children go hungry for the night and the next day. At this crucial time of need, women make their sacrifices and get exploited. A suggestion that recommends an income activity that can only yield an income once or twice a year will not be appropriate for such people. Income should be generated every day or every week. There are activities that fall into this category.... raising rabbits is one of them.

A female rabbit reproduces about 25 off-springs in a year. Keeping 8 breeding rabbits can provide the family with 1 rabbit every other day.
+++jf

Equlibrium said 4 months ago

A non risky establishment of an entrepreneurial initiativ from which many could benefit and the outcome and experiences could certainly be a model for others.

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Backyard rabbit keeping is certainly a low risk and low investment initiative.

Like any initiative there should also be good management in order to realise the full potential of the activity. So keeping 2 rabbits in a 1m2 cage is not difficult. The biggest risk in many parts of Kenya is predation by dogs. Thus outdoor cages should be built high enough so that the dogs cannot reach them. When cages are kept indoors, then rats become the primary predator which can be stopped with chick wire fencing. You also need to watch out for fire ants and they are attracted to a dirty rabbit house. Putting wood ash around the rabbit house helps.
+++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

In this ARC Contest, I noted seven entries on rabbits so far.
Nigeria = 2 entries
Cameroon = 1 entry
Kenya = 4 entries
(1)../view/598 : Improving production expertise of rural rabbit Farmers in Kwara state of Nigeria.
(2)../view/599 : Nipple Drinkers to eliminate water spillage in rural rabbit Farms in Kwara state of Nigeria.
(3)../view/653 : The Ndekero Challenge: A Systems Approach for Rabbit Keeping by a Rural Community in Partnership with a Commercial Rabbit Farm (Kenya)
(4)../view/663 : Kenyan Rural Youth Empowerment Through Rabbitry Farming
(5)../view/791 : Rabbit Farming (Kenya)
(6)../view/930 : Rabbits as an Incentive in Promoting Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Around the DJA Reserve (Dja sustainable rabbit project) (Cameroon)
(7)../view/998 : Rabbit breeders association (Kenya)

This is indicative of the increasing role of micro-livestock in the Sub-Sahara Africa and which has been a trend in Asia and Latin America. In Asia the realisation came because of the bird flu. Guinea pigs for meat is unique in Latin America.

Some of the major forces that will enhance/favour the trend for keeping micro-livestock in the future are :
(i) the reduced access to pasture land by large livestock (goats, cattle, camels)
(ii) climate change that is causing drought in many countries
(iii) urbanization as more people live in mega-cities.

Backyard rabbit keeping and also in balconies of apartment building will continue as a trend. The "supplies" industry will develop and provide rabbit hutches/cages of various shapes and sizes, and accessories too.

The Ndekero Challenge provides a different perspective. It advocates raising rabbits in colonies (not in cages but in open, vegetated enclosures). In cities that have green parks, such a rabbit colony farm could be an added recreation attraction for city folks and can supply meat to restaurants and souvenirs to shops.

In Stockholm, some pet owners have released their rabbits into parks and rabbit warrens have established. Like pigeons that co-habit the city, the number of rabbits in parks is now controlled. Last year Stockholm city removed 6,000 rabbits as their numbers increase rapidly. Unfortunately because they are not "farmed", they cannot be sold as meat.

++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Another future trend in mega cities is "vertical agriculture". City people are already doing it on their balconies and roof tops. The next step is : agriculture in a multi-storey building. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/opinion/24Despommier.html?_r=2)

When you have plant rejects and residues, micro-livestock such as rabbits will play the important role of a protein converter. This is in the offing for city dwellers. I remember in the mid 90s, I went to a circus performance in Osaka on the 4th floor of a building and they had all the animals there.

So why not ... rabbits in vertical agriculture and rabbit colonies farms in green parks in cities !

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Ndekero Challenge project gets additional support at http://green.onevillage.tv/?m=200909 from oneVillage Foundation (www.onevillagefoundation.org)

The rabbit-fish system is an integrated system because all wastes will be used. (i) wastes from the rabbit colony will be used to grow earthworms and produce vermi-compost (ii) fish pond water will be used for crop irrigation (iii) rabbit hides will be tanned (iv) rabbit offal and earthworms will be used as fish feed.

The Ndekero Challenge is a social enterprise because the farm will extend its services to villagers and help them market their rabbits. In addition, tanned rabbit hides will be used by the villagers to make products that can increase their income further. The farm will be a zero waste activity.
+++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

15 percent of the global population fall into the category of "hungry persons". For the first time in history humanity there are 1 billion hungry persons. 70 percent of the world's poor are farmers.

A change would mean doing something new or doing what they have been doing in a different way. The Ndekero Challenge works both ways.

" The lack of efficient means of transportation, storage and packaging in Africa means that 40 percent to 60 percent of the harvests of some agricultural products are lost each year."

The Ndekero Challenge solves these problems. Live rabbits are delivered to the local rabbit farm. The animals are slaughtered only when needed and delivered locally.

+++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From: Chris Esikumo
....thanks for your efforts and hope we can do more. I come from Emuhaya, western Kenya and we have a big problem of poverty. People have small farms that cant be used to do large scale farming. Actually, even small scale farming is not easy unless we come with creative ideas. Like yours. Is there a way we can work together and come with projects that could help these people. I am currently in the US but will be going to Kenya in about 2-3 weeks. Are you based in Kenya? I have lots of ideas on how to source for funds but i guess you have more experience. Am only interested in helping and not the running of any projects."
++++

clifwere said 4 months ago

Hallo Jacky, I am facing a problem with your profile photo; when I try to share my idea on facebook, the idea appears but with your profile photo, might you know what the hitch is? I have just contacted the web site about it.

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

search my email address in FB
jacky.foo@gmail.com

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Hi Chris
>we have a big problem of poverty. People have small
>farms that cant be used to do large scale farming.
>Actually, even small scale farming is not easy
>unless we come with creative ideas.

very true.... small scale farming must have innovative ideas and a diversity of activities. This can be provided by integrated.

Furthermore large scale operation dont help small farmers. very often, they try to buy them out. Cooperatives can help but they also need to add operations costs.

The Ndekero Challenge is different. Small farmers and families will actually strengthen production of the farm and costs for the farm will not be "more" because it is part of their operation.
++jf

Nahinga said 4 months ago

Hello Mr. Jacky Foo,
1. I have posted your poject on my wall on facebook, I trust my 1030+ friends would see it and come vote.
2. We are organizing a Conference in December 21-22 called "Africa Gathering" (see details at www.africagathering.com) and we are calling for papers. Kindly present your project for review. Once you present it, you may qualify for grant support from the proceeds of the Conference in Nairobi
3. Stay in touch either through Kuna Vijana or david.nahinga@gmail.com
Cheers

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Hi Nahinga

thank you for letting me know about the conference in Dec.

Timing is not good for me to travel (and I dont have the travel budget too) since it is Christmas and then on 28th Dec I celebrate my 35 Wedding Anniversary with my wife. However, I like you to present a joint paper with me and use the Ndekero Challenge approach so that it is tailored to Jikaze IDP camp. We can modify the scheme diagrams to fit Jikaze but there are a few essential data that I need to evaluate its feasibility and to look at risks.

Basically Jikaze IDPs (153 families) can be the "community" target group. We need to find a business partner to start the farm in the neighbourhood so that partnershipwith the target group can be developed. "Fair Trade" principles should also be included in the partnership. A diaspora group which I hope to start when I have more friends could actually be the business partner/group.
++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

ADVOCATING FAIR TRADE IN THE NDEKERO CHALLENGE

Fair trade create opportunities for the disadvantaged farmers to give them a fair share of the economic product lifecycle. This approach will help poverty reduction. The bottom of the trade chain are usually these marginalized small producers who are very dependent on family businesses or their subsistence farms for some cash income.

Fair trade also supports community development just as the Ndekero Challenge intends to do. The example with rabbits is that it takes about 7 months from the time of mating a female doe to the final meat product. This process is short-cut with only partners or steps and thus avoiding the middle "man". The product has an income potential of 200 Ksh/kg. Thus fair trade needs to divide this profit fairly based on the time spent to have the product with the family and rabbit farm and production costs. With rabbit keeping, it requires very low external cost input and input is almost only work time by family, children and farm workers.

+++ jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Update on ARC Contest Round 3 (16 Sept- 15 Oct)
17th Oct

Thank you everyone for your support and votes.

The Ndekero Challenge project stayed in Position 3 for a week or more but lost to aggressive voting by other projects in the last 24 hours before the closing of the Round.

We still have another opportunity in Round 4 (16 Oct-15 Nov). As part of the "game" rules, projects that dont win Round Prizes can continue as contestants with their accumulated votes. This is a blessing in disguise as the Ndekero Challenge Project is now in 2nd place of Round 4. The Prize money is a significant amount in Kenya and can be put to very good use. Our aim is to take Position 1. Please continue to seek support from your friends and to vote on their behalf since they may not have access to Internet.

The lesson learnt is that there will be aggressive voting on 15th Nov. and we need to be prepared for it this time.

+++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Transportation and Infrastructure:

these are important issues for rural farmers because they may spend hours in goods transportation. Road infra-structure therefore plays an important role.

In a scenario where motorbikes are used, they usually reach rough terrain and adapted to narrow paths. The weight of goods and size/bulk of the package may be limited. Thus transport of a higher valued goods would bring better returns per trip.

Rabbits (and poultry) can be transported as live goods and can serve as an advantage over produce that perishes quickly (green leafy vegetables). Rabbits have lean meat (i.e. does not have much fat) and it can withstand longer hours without rancid. If marinated for grilling it can remain good without refrigeration for several hours and even over night. Live rabbits will weight almost twice the weight of slaughtered rabbits for transport.

The Ndekero project also targets at road-side grillers which usually make their sales in the evening. This will enable farmers to do their morning chores in the crop fields and when it is warm in the midday, they can slaughter the rabbits which can get to the towns before the evening. Marinating with garlic and lemon will serve as preservatives as well as for flavouring the meat.

For the motorbikes, a return trip to the town with a package of meat for delivery would also mean some extra money instead of an empty return journey.

++++jf

carlhall said 4 months ago

why rabbits and not chickens ? rabbits are pets in many countries.

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

>why rabbits and not chickens ?

the choice in raising livestock depends on e.g. climate and feed resources. This project is for Meru area which is ideal for both chickens and rabbits and the target group is villagers with little cash resources. So keeping a fairly large number of chickens or rabbits (e.g. 200) require external feed inputs. Commercial feed for rabbits and chickens is out of the question. Then since grass, weeds and crop residues are available, rabbits is then the choice.

A next question is why not goats and cattle ? The answer is that rabbits reproduce in greater numbers and because of their convenience in their size, income can be generated more often instead of waiting for 1 year or 2. With the right number of rabbits, you can even get a daily income.

there are other reasons too.
+++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

>.....rabbits are pets in many countries.

very true.....

I recall two proverbs or qoutations:
(i) what is food for one (person) may be a poison to another.
(ii) you can believe in anything you want to as long as you dont impose your belief upon another person.

In Europe ( I live in Stockholm), we have limited ourselves to a few types of animal protein (cattle, sheep, goats, chicken, and less common are rabbits, turkey, duck, ostrich). Many in the younger generation in Europe will not eat rabbit meat now because it is a common pet for kids. I can understand why they dont eat rabbit meat. In Asia and Africa, there trend is quite the opposite. Many have started to eat rabbit meat and less chicken now. Rabbit farms now replace chicken farms. Rabbit meat is lean meat i.e. has low fat content and lowest in cholesterol too. So it is actually more healthy to eat rabbit than pork and beef.

We all make our own choice in what we wish to eat. I respect your choice. However I certainly think it is not appropriate for a person to stop another from eating rabbit meat.

In Sub-Sahara countries, I believe micro-livestock will play a growing role in animal protein supply in the very near future. Like the development of ostrich meat industry as a luxury meat, rabbit meat industry will develop quickly and serve as a meat for both the poor and the rich.

++++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Q: how will families meet with the farm manager and share information/knowledge ?

(i) 50 families will be selected as the first target group. They will receive training on rabbit keeping and also those who already have rabbits can share their experiences/knowledge.

(ii) families and/or their children can deliver rabbits once a week at the rabbit colony farm and will be able to be in contact with the farm manager. Families should be making a deliver at lest once a month even if the family has just 1 cage (and more often if each child has a cage).

(iii) children who go to the school will be close to the farm and are actually encouraged to visit the farm daily. They will also have their fruit trees beside the rabbit farm. This way there is close contact with the farm manager.

(iv) at least 10 part-time parents will be helping to collect greens for the rabbits. These will be parents who are unable to pay the full school fees. They will probably also be having cages at home and can also help their neighbours to deliver rabbits to the farm.

(v) Foreign partner will be in Kenya for a few months and will have intern(s) during the process of construction and stocking.

(v) The Nazareth Sisters have a rabbit house that has a capacity of holding 100 rabbits. 4 groups of children are already involved in the project which started in Feb 2009. So there is a general awareness of rabbit keeping.

(vi) via Internet support can be provided via the Rabbit Network Kenya and via e-groups that are managed by Jacky Foo. There is therefore contact with the World Rabbit Science Association, the Sub-Sahara Branch of WRSA as well as about 300 members of a group that deal with raising colony rabbits

++++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From: david waweru
Need to know whether there is a serious demand for rabbit meat in Kenya or is it just an overrated enterprise?

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Q: is there a serious demand for rabbit meat in Kenya..

Yes, I believe so... it is just that the demand has not been met because there is no proper supply. So we dont hear about it.

The government is trying to respond to it. see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTuMoosJSQk (21 Sept 2009)

Another major problem is the attitude of overpricing. In the youtube video, you will see that the price there is 250 Ksh per kilo. I am very happy with this because it will encourage the growth of the industry. (beef sells at around the same price in local butcheries).

Many rabbit breeders are targeting at higher prices and wish to see it develop as a "luxury" meat. I wish to ses it as meat which the poor and rich could afford. Let local butcheries sell it for 250 ksh/kg, supermarkets can sell it for 450 Ksh per kilo and restaurants can make their money at 1000 Ksh per plate. All these operations have different overhead costs.

The most damaging issue is when rabbit breeders start to demand high prices for their rabbits and the effect is that local butcheries are unable to sell them. Then rabbit meat will become a luxury meat.

++++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Q: is it just an overrated enterprise?

Keeping rabbits is not new in Kenya. You ask a grandfather and he will tell you that he had rabbits before. This is backyard rabbit keeping.

There are small commercial rabbit farms. They often cater exclusively for one or two restaurant clients. Commercial feed is used and this is a limiting factor. 1 kg of pellets costs about 35 Ksh (50USA cents).

Q: is there a rabbit meat industry in Kenya ?
not yet......but it is growing only recently.

Is it "overrated" ?
probably so because there are people who are trying to sell breeding stocks at 5,000 Ksh per adult doe when the real price is 1000 Ksh for an adult flemish giant breed and just 500 Ksh for a 6-8 week weaned rabbit at govt rabbit breeding centers. The "overrating" is simply to justify the seller's high price.

Rabbit Network Kenya sell breeders (Californian and NZ whites) at 200 Ksh each (3-4 months old). They are fed with greens.
http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net/projects.htm

+++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Q: should we encourage rabbit meat as a "luxury" meat ?

If it means pricing rabbit meat that is beyond the reach of the poor and the middle class, I would certainly not encourage it.

Why:
because rabbit meat can be produced at a low cost and certainly not more than cattle, chickens and sheep that are fed with commercial feed. This makes it so unique especially in Sub-Sahara Africa. Rabbits have small body size and therefore have a low daily feed requirements. It has a short generation interval with a high reproductive potential. The ability to utilize forages and fibrous agricultural by-products makes it favorable for meat production.

I dont want to see a new meat industry that is set up to sell at prices that only the rich can pay.

++++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Q: what feed sources can be created if natural greens are not available due to drought ?

commercial pelleted feed can be used in emergencies but we can also anticipate that the price will increase because of the demand.

Sprouted seeds can be germinated on trays with little water requirement and then placed in a transparent plastic green house or outdoors until adequate growth/biomass is obtained. Various types of seeds esp. cereals can be used.

This will require some investment from the farm but the farm/families can work together to help each other. A positive social impact is the strengthening of partnership in such times of emergencies.

++++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From Jackson Ntapi (Cameroon)
MARKET---------------
The presence of an intermediate colony farm is useful in assisting small local farmers access the market as they can sell to the farm which will then sell in bulk. Equally the presence of a rabbit network (already carrying out some activities in the field) can assist in this domain.
++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From Jackyson Ntapi (Cameroon)

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES------------------

The colony farm can serve as a reference farm used during training of new farmers into the program. Also it will be a source of initial production stock for newly interested farmers. We should take the advantage of having many old experience rabbit farmers who will be available in sharing their knowledge in such a scheme.

This will well suit an indigenous based strategy; we can simply ensure a scaling-up of their skills before using them for such a program.
--

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From Jackson Ntapi (Cameroon)
(excerpts)

While I do accept that project sustainability is greatly linked to maintaining low production cost especially that of feeding the rabbits, this issue of available free grass all year round should be focal in choosing the initial project site.

The population density has increased exponentially over the last decade and free grass all year cannot be assured. Farmers had a lot of problems obtaining free grass from the natural environment due to high population densities. Having low cost projects based on this may be very difficult.

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From Jackson Ntapi (Cameroon)
(excerpts)

...you must involve the farmers in a participatory and partnership approach in taking the final decision on which housing system to adopt, what cheapest means are there to produce rabbits, how should market the products etc etc.
++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

J Ntapi(Cameroon)>PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES
>The colony farm can serve as a reference farm used during
>training of new farmers into the program.

very true. The Ndekero Challenge will open up the technique as a social enterprise.... unlike private businesses that generally would try to keep its skills to themselves so that they can have monopoly as the supplier.

As the project site is with a school, there will be exposure of the students to the art of rabbit keeping.

>Also it will be a source of initial production stock for newly interested farmers. We should take the advantage of having many
>old experience rabbit farmers who will be available in sharing
>their knowledge in such a scheme.

when families deliver their rabbits to the farm, the timing could be arranged so that small groups of rabbit keepers could also meet in the classrooms to share their skills and problems. This is possible at the Ndekero site.

>This will well suit an indigenous based strategy; we can simply
>ensure a scaling-up of their skills before using them for
>such a program.

thank you for bring up this aspect in community cooperation and the farm. Actually the role of the farm is very important in providing leadership and it has a perfect setting since it is with the Nazareth Sisters.
+++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From: Joseph Irungu M'Muchiri
(excerpts)
Thanks Jacky. ...let me discuss with the superiors and I believe something will come up. I have worked with them for long and they have all else in place.They both deal with the poor in the slums around here and the potential is there.

One 10 acre farm is near Embulbul just after Karen and the other is in Ngong Town. Both Ideal and run by very good Sisters in the Catholic Church.
+++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

Role-playing and scenario building: A Parent

school fees is 4000 ksh per term for a child. This is equivalent to 1 month' pay if I am to work as a farm worker. 3 months per year would go to a child's schooling. If I have 4 children, then I need to work the whole year to get my 4 children through primary school. My husband takes care of our small farm but children must help during the week end. It is not easy. Some times, I dont have enough to pay the full term fee.

At public schools I dont pay school fees but I have to pay for children's lunch, hire of the school desk, uniforms, second hand books and other costs. Public school is too far from my house and so children dont have time to come home for lunch. If children take a long walk home for lunch, they get more hungry and get tired and sleepy when they return back to school. So it is much better for them to eat at school.

At Nazareth school, parents and children help each other to save money. Teaching is better here than in public schools. My children are more well behaved because the Sisters are very good in their work. They spend all their time with children and have no worries.

The rabbit house at school is very good. My children help there and now they want to keep rabbits at home. I can collect some tree branches and wood to make a cage. We can buy baby rabbits for 50 Ksh and then keep them for 4 months before they will start producing babies or sell them. They can help to pay children's education.

+++

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

From: Evans Muriu

hi Jacky. The rabbit project can work well with Jikaze IDP Camp...i discussed it with the youths and they outlined possible challenges and how to solve them. They want to use the rabbits to help them do other things? what is the procedure we get it started on december....we prepare in advance
---

jonnt said 4 months ago

Hi Evans
you wrote earlier that
>there are 7 rabbits now at the idp camp....
>(and) 70 people have kept rabbits

I suggest that you help some of these 70 people who had rabbits before to restart again with backyard activities. May be your input could be to provide the stock rabbits (2 females) to the person who wish to start and select just 2 persons who would each keep a male breeder (buck) + 2 does.

>they outlined possible chalanges and how to solve them

I cannot advise you to start a rabbit farm as I dont have the basic info. Feed is the most important.

Many people just welcome the idea of keeping rabbits but dont think beyond that.

By starting with backyard rabbit keeping, rabbit keepers can realise and calculate how much feed is needed if they wish to have a farm.

When feed is low, backyard rabbit keepers can just ask their children to scavenge for greens. When you start a community farm, the energy to scavenge is much less as they expect the NGO to buy commercial feed. This is a major difficulty with community projects where there is no existing practice and knowledge (just a transfer of idea or technology).

With a commercial farm, it is different. All risks are addressed in the preparation and planning. There is an action plan for each possible risk.

+++jf

jackyfoo said 4 months ago

sorry...
jonn just used my mobile modem for his vote. ...
the last response is actually from me.
+++jacky

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

From: "Dr Ramchurn" (excerpts)
Dear Jacky,
I have just endorsed the project and wish you good luck. It has been a pleasure to participate especially that it is the only rabbit (colony) project. I am now more often in Mauritius and ... Much of my works on rabbit have been collected in a book that also deals with other domestic animals. Members are welcome to it free except for package & postage from Mauritius.
With best regards
Dev
(Ramdeo Ramchurn )

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

From: Saidu Oseni (edited--- excerpts)
I already gave my endorsement to this proposal ...(cut)...
...will open a new window for future collaborations within
the SSA-WRSA in particular, and the WRSA in general.

Dr. Saidu Oseni. Coordinator, SSA-WRSA.
Sub-Sahara Africa Branch, World Rabbit Science Association
Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

Saidu Oseni> Your endorsement will open a new window for future
>collaborations within the SSA-WRSA in particular,

We know that rabbits very successfully multiply in Australia but referred to as an "environmental disaster".... simply because rabbits are not harvested efficiently as a food source. For Africa we want them to multiple in rabbit colony farms and to serve as a source of food in managed systems.

This is a window for a new field of research and a potential African research speciality for RR-SSA on integrated farming systems with rabbits and other sub-systems such as fish farming.

+++jf

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

Rabbits and Children in Kenya

In a questionnaire survey with street children at a children's home, about 50% of them had rabbits or had been in contact with rabbits that are owned by their friends. The girls do help their brothers to collect grass but let the boys to do the slaughtering and skinning. A couple of the 140 returned questionnaires say that they dont want to eat rabbits because they are pets.

The Ndekero Challenge addresses this possible "problem" by not slaughtering the 2 (recommended) breeder does which a child may keep as pets but offers the opportunity for the child to sell weaned rabbits for pocket money. This way a child needs to manage just one large cage. If each child in a family has her/his own cage, the impact will be great.

Children can collect grass when they walk back from school. In a rural setting in Ndekero, there is usually an abundant of grass in the school compound and beside the dirt roads on the way back to their homes. Most of the children live in their family farm and their parents would be happy to see a new purpose in the use of weeds.

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

In Uganda (2002) and Cambodia (2005), I introduced rabbits at my work places to my workers/families as a side hobby. I boght the rabbits for the workers. In 2008, I had project funding and constructed 7 rabbit houses in Kenya. http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net/projects.htm . Three were cage systems but the other 4 were a hydrid system where rabbits have access to open space. Rabbits in this hydrid system were more healthy and less mortality. However the cost of construction was the primary constraint. This would the reason why the colony method was considered in the Phase 2 of the project in Ndekero. http://www.globetree.org/africa/ndekero/index.htm
+++

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

Q: What is the rabbit meat demand in Kenya ?

I have not done any survey on this yet.

quotes:
(i) [Njung'e]July 07, 2009
>A ready market in Nairobi of 2000kgs per week .....A single guy
> recently approached them with an offer of 250 shs per kg for
>2 tonnes every week

This works out to be about 100,000 kg per year for Nairobi.

(ii) from a friend: there was a request of 100 kg/week by a Nakumatt supermarket branch.

For 2009, the demand of rabbit meat for Sweden was estimated to be 1,000,000 kg but the local supply is just 300,000 kg.

++++jf

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

My NGO affiliation:
Globetree Association, www.globetree.org
Its mission:
With children in focus, Globetree works on a scientific base, using creativity as key tools to mobalize and support children and their teacher in their efforts to improve life and the living environment.

I serve as the program officer on environment and sustainable development. Globetree holds several meetings in Sweden and in East Africa (with an annual Nov meeting in Nairobi at UNON - United Nations Office Grounds). We bring children (esp. OVCs) together to discuss issues and their daily concerns and to present/report activities . One of my tasks is to select concerns and develop them into projects for funding and implementation. I have been with Globetree since 2004.

The Ndekero Challenge addresses the issue of children with poor parents and as they are often unable to pay the full schooling costs, these children have higher risks in dropping out of school. Ndekero Challenge approach will develop activities/social enterprise that can generate income and that can involve these parents. Part-time jobs to parents will able them to supplement cash money to cover school costs of their children, instead of "aid" sponsorship. This approach is more sustainable and a better way to use donations/"aid" money.
+++

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

Working in East Africa and the Ndekero Challenge

It is 10 years since I first visited East Africa (mostly Kenya, Uganda and one trip to Tanzania). My work (research in wastewater treatment, rural development, improvement of the environment & vulnerable children) took me to rural communities, boarding schools, children’s home, probation hostels, prisons, landfill sites, wetlands, farms, and agro-based factories. I listen to problems and needs, try to understand the local socio-economic situation and then work together to find possible solutions and funding.

The Ndekero Challenge came out of 12 months of progressive work, from visiting and screening of 26 potential places, doing demos in 7 sites and finally after much self-debate, Ndekero was chosen for this project.

The “NS” Farm is 30 acres in size and includes a primary day school. Natural resources are stones, sand, river, water, forest, crop residues (and other green biomass as rabbit feed).

Ndekero has favourable conditions for interactions with and the building of a progressive community.
(i) the school is connected to the rural community on a daily basis. This is very important for communications and information exchange. Often in this context, the project will have more contact with the women and children. We are also dealing with families who are not satisfied with the public school and who are willing to work hard to give their children a better education.

(ii) the rabbit farm : ………will attract children and women. Children are attracted to small animals for several reasons. Women see rabbits as a source of food and income.

(iii) fish ponds: …… fish farming will attract both women and men. Their help will be needed during the construction of the ponds/canals, feeding the fishes and night security.

++++

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

“Improve the lives of Women farming in Sub-Sahara Africa” is the theme of this ARC contest.

The term of reference (target group) can range from the most deprived situation to a rare opportunity where a rural community that has access to all public utilities (mobile phone, electricity grid/solar lighting, tap water or well in their courtyard, roads and public transport. I have lived in both these extremes and thus have a personal understanding of these possible situations.

In most situations, a rural community will lack one or more public utilities. Even in the towns where all these utilities are available, I have worked with deprived communities that are just beside these facilities and where families still need to go to a shop or a friend to re-charge their mobile phones, collect/pay drinking water from a borehole water source.

The minimal facilities that they have is a home and a pit toilet (and a well when possible). These are what they can construct for themselves.

This is basically true for many rural communities that ARC will address.

The next step in utilities is a means of transport and the radio/TV (solar-powered).

Ndekero Challenge project is located in such a rural environment and settings. It has mobile phone access but no electricity grid and tap water network. It has access to roads that lead to the main road to Meru city. Thus it has the favourable opportunities of an agri-business economy.

Rabbit keeping is to serve as an extension of on-going agri-activities. This is an important aspect in diversification and extra income where under-utilised biomass resources can be converted into value-added products.

Rabbits can convert 20% of the feed they eat into edible meat which is more than that of pig, beef cattle and goat.

++++

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

from: PAUL GATHUO OSCAR,
AM HIGHLY DETERMINED AND MY HOPE IS THAT THROUGH RABBIT KEEPING AM GOING TO MOVE TO GREAT HEIGHTS IN LIFE FROM ASHES TO RICHES

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

From: Danson Mureithi, October 7, 2009
Its interesting to learn that so many people are curious to learn about rabbit keeping. I started with the local breed but I have now introduced improved breed.

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

From: A K Mwaura, October 8,

Quite interesting. Remember Njeru Githae saying people should change their diets! This is it. I want to breed ..... any ideas call me on 0722720440 or email to akmwamboi@yahoo.com

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

From: Brian Kamuyu, October 8, 2009
I would like to start a rabbit farm but dont know the best breeds,would you please advice me!

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

Brian Kamuyu wrote:
>I would like to start a rabbit farm but dont know the
>best breeds,would you please advice me!

At Ndekero, I am using local breeds, NZ whites and California whites. This is because it is a rabbit colony and I am looking for rabbits with instincts to burrow.

Many people think of getting a Flemish giant buck and then breed this with local breed doe. They dont realise when you do that, these smaller sized doe must deliver giant kits which are bigger than the usual sized kits. They dont think of the damage done to the does !!

If you are using a Flemish giant buck, please get Flemish giant females too !!

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

Q: how will you use the 100 rabbit heads every month ?

There are a few options:
(i) crash them and give them to the fishes. The catfish and Tilapia will pick the brains and whatever that they can scavenge

(ii) crush them and convert them into insect larvae and then feed the larvae to the fishes. (P.S: I worked on this using brewery spent grains in Western Samoa). If there are black soldier flies, then houseflies will not colonise the biomass.

(iii) rabbit heads are served as a delicacy in some parts of China. The school children at Nderkero might want to try them or we could try it in the Meru market place. it will need a special and tasty recipe that is so good that the rabbit heads appear "secondary" !!

(iv) pig brain made into an omelett taste fantastic. I need to try rabbit brain omelett.

(v) get margots to clean the heads and then use the skulls to make souvenirs ... (why not !!)

(vi) will ask the school children to give ideas and give prizes for the best ideas.

Any suggestions from you would also be appreciated.

++++jf

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

Q: How are you going to manage security against thefts ?

There will be a shed in the farm. This shed will house the bucks, work tools, slaughterhouse, security guard, etc.

I would like to look for an alternative to hiring a security guard (armed with bow and arrows) since the costs per year could already sponsor 5 children to school. The alternative is to let a parent overnight at the shed as the security guard once a week.

This would help and sponsor their children to school. If this is possible, then the farm will need emergency car-battery powered lights so that its can be switched on when there is something suspicious happening and also to the power the alarm so that the school security guard can also be alerted. We could put "traps" and physical sound alarms since it will be pitch dark as there will be no lighting in the farm.

I welcome other suggestions ....
++++jf

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

PAUL GATHUO OSCAR wrote:
>AM HIGHLY DETERMINED AND MY HOPE IS THAT THROUGH
> RABBIT KEEPING AM GOING TO MOVE TO GREAT HEIGHTS IN
>LIFE FROM ASHES TO RICHES

this is the type of person that the rabbit meat industry needs to pay attention to. It can go both ways - good or bad -:

(i) Paul can contribute significantly to the industry if he knows his stuffs, has the investments/investors and has all the management/technical skills to make it.
(ii) if this is a dreamer and misinformed, then the guaranteed failure will cause bad media/publicity that will have negative impact on the industry.

Successes in China was due to a different situation. What they did was basically switched from poultry to rabbits because of the birdflu. The infra-structure was already there.

In Kenya ... the situation is completely different. While backyard rabbit keeping exists, the attitude of commercial producers is predominantly to make rabbit meat a luxury meat with a niche market and to sell at the highest price possible. This means a "low" volume. Many dont realise that such a niche market also demands higher standards/quality of meat and thus a higher production costs.

Food production in the future will be a social enterprise where middle-trading will be removed and the focus will be at fair price and trading and direct sales to the super-markets or local neighbourhood butchery. The difference in the price of these two is their overhead costs.

++++jf

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

Q: How can you increase fish production ?

In the diagram http://www.globetree.org/africa/ndekero/ibs-ndekero-ws.jpg , there is a further opportunity to dig a second fish canal around the whole structure. This would provide additional income and also serve as a reservoir of water for the dry season.

This activity could be done in Phase 3 when we are able to demonstrate fish farming in the canal.

Monitoring of the quality of water is important. In our case, canal water will be used for irrigation and river water will be used to replace the withdrawn water from the canal. We have basically no control in the quality of the input water from the river. However we can control/decide when we take the water.

There are several factors and guidelines to help increase the yield of fish. This is a science and art by itself. Kenya also has public service and support for fish farming and they can be consulted for their help too. Basic training of the local staff is important.

+++++

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

Adding value to fish harvest

fish can be smoked to add value to the product. Harvest can be planned so that agric residues such as dried maize stocks could be used. Instead of burning these on the fields, they can be used to enerate the smoke that is needed.

Harvest of fish can be done during the dry season as water level in pond will be reduced due to higher evaporation. Another way to add value is to make salted sun-dried fish.
++

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

From: Sofjan Iskandar
That is a good example of appreciation to rabbit, I and my college especially Prof Raharjo (president of Indonesian WRSA) are keep trying to convince the government decision makers to put a little bit concern on promoting rabbit for house hold. It is true that are still many people thinking of rabbit just like cat, and they seem to reluctant to eat them, although it is a halal (not forbidden to eat according to moslem way) meat, like chicken or goat meat.

sofjan ISKANDAR
Researcher at Indonesia Research Institute for Animal Production (IRIAP)

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

Novella Carpenter is the author of Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer (the Penguin Press, June 2009). On Nov 15, she is organizing a class on rabbit basics: housing, sourcing food for them on a budget, breeding, and harvesting, humane technique for killing meat rabbits, dressing and preparing the rabbit for the table, how to extract the most flavor from your rabbit, with recipes for a rich stock, kidney and liver paste, Tuscan rabbit ragu and tips on how to best season, grill and braise the meat.

This course is a response to the demand of knowledge as more and more urban farmers are discovering the benefits of raising rabbits for meat in the city. Rabbits are the new chicken. Bunnies are quiet, prefer to be kept in shady locations, reproduce quickly, and can be fed scraps.

SSA certainly also need to respond to the same opportunity to go commercial and to build up its rabbit meat industry. The timing is right (finally) and we should not waste this opportunity NOW.
+++

jackyfoo said 3 months ago

I have uploaded (11/13, Nov 13) an improved version of the project entry which attempts to increase some aspects/items raised during the discussion of the project but still tries to keep the description short to 7 pages. The basic idea is still the same.

++++regards, jf.

carara said 3 months ago

best of luck.

agrotunnel said 2 months ago

we would like to get your contact
visit www.agrotunnel.com

wolfpack said 1 month ago

hey mr jackyfoo.ve read most of tha comments bout the rabbit keeping n i got interested with the idea.having worked outside tha country for some tyme i would like to venture into rabbit rearing n poultry.i would like to know more bout rabbit keeping.

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