Rose Kinyanjui and her husband David Muhia Kinyanjui are the proprietors of Daroclael Rabbit Farm in Dagoretti, Nairobi.
However, despite their success in rabbit farming, they have also dealt with challenges that led to massive losses.
For instance, while venturing into rabbit farming, the two made a blunder that caused the death of mostof their animals.
Here is their story as told by WoK.
Rabbit farming
Rose Kinyanjui and David Muhia have been practicing rabbit farming for almost two years now.
At Daroclael Rabbit Farm, the couple sell live rabbits, rabbit meat, rabbit manure and urine, and they also make mats from rabbit skin.
In an interview with Nation, the couple noted that they started the rabbit farm in 2021 with a Ksh 600,000 capital.
“It has become a family business. We started with 30 rabbits; twenty does and 10 bucks. We bought them in Ngong at Ksh 750,” Rose said.
While getting into the business, the couple had no proper information about rabbit farming and ended up losing most of them.
“We overfed them on pellets, leading to bloat. We thought giving the rabbits large quantities of food would make them grow fast,” she added.
They learnt from their lessons, got a new set of bunnies and hit the ground running.
They got the New Zealand, California White, Dutch, Checkered, Chinchilla, Havana and Flemish Giant breeds.
Selling rabbits
At their farm, the couple sell bunnies while they are three to four months old.
The price depends on the weight of the rabbit, while most animals are sold weighing between 1.2-1.5kg, a kilo goes for Ksh 700.
David noted that they mostly sell their rabbit meat to Chinese nationals.
“They buy in bulk but their prices are discouraging. They insist on having a kilo at Ksh 450 but make more money when they sell the meat,” he said.
The couple sells at least 20 rabbits every two weeks.
Other than rabbit meat and bunnies, they also sell urine and manure to farmers interested in organic fertilizers.
“A litre goes for Sh100. We also sell manure at Sh3,000 a pick-up truck, which is about two tonnes. It is diluted with water, at a ratio of 1:2,” David said.
He also makes mats made from rabbit skin which he sells for Ksh 300 to Ksh 600 depending on the size.
Challenges
The couple mentioned the high cost of rabbit feeds as one of the major challenges that they are facing in their business.
“I wish the government could do more for rabbit keepers. Farmers need the training to refine their skills. County governments should build rabbit slaughterhouses too
“Many people are craving rabbit meat but don’t know where to get it. Rabbit keepers cannot sell the meat to supermarkets,” he said.
