JEFFREY MOYO/INTER PRESS SERVICE
Tichaona Muzariri, a villager in Chivhu, a town 143 kilometers south of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, quit his job as a teacher in 2009 to start a rabbit farm. He had three female rabbits and one male.
With about $30 as capital, Muzariri started his new business. Today, he breeds nearly 3,000 rabbits every year and slaughters up to 120 every week for sale to grocery stores, restaurants and hotels.
One kilogram of rabbit meat retails for $8 to $10 in Zimbabwe. “If I look back today, I just can’t believe that it’s me who is making thousands of dollars from rabbit farming, starting from a very humble beginning,” Muzariri said.
On average, the price of a live rabbit from Muzariri’s farm is $6. Business flourishes because the cost of raising one rabbit is only
$1 per month.
“For me, this business is in the right trajectory as many people now find rabbit meat a delicacy they cannot do without,” Muzariri said.
A single female gives birth to up to 40 babies in a year. Thanks to rapid breeding, rabbit farming, known as cuniculture, is booming in Zimbabwe. According to the Rabbit Producers Association of Zimbabwe, there are more than 2,000 rabbit farmers in this Southern African nation, ranging from commercial farmers to people raising them in their backyards.