2006-04-28T09:02:00.000Z

SNAIL FARMING IN GHANA

By: Mavis Esi Mensah
Snail farming in Ghana has not gained much popularity as it is mainly done as a backyard hobby in people’s homes for consumption by the family.
This practice of snail farming on a small scale level in the country has made it impossible to meet the requirements for exporting processed snails.
Snails receive huge markets in some countries like Japan, Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Indonesia, China, United States of America, South Africa and Australia where snails are reared on a larger scale or imported from other countries.
Snail farming basically is not a hard work and only needs passion, persistence, good promotion and marketing skills in order for one to be successful in the business.
There are two ways of snail farming:
Some specialise in the complete life cycle system where the farmer specialises in the real snail breeding that is the farmer breeds mature ones who lay and hatch their own eggs. The little ones are then allowed to develop a weight of between 10-15 grams for the farmer to start selling them either to local buyers or in the export market.
With the other system called the part life cycle system, the farmer only specialises in fattening snails, and in this case, the snails are feed to the maximum for the lean season when the farmer sells them.
In Ghana, there are very few people who are into serious snail farming and one of such people is Mr Adotei Brown who owns Farmer Brown at Ngleshie Amanfro in the Greater Accra Region off Kasoa road.
Farmer Brown is also into the rearing of agricultural products such as poultry, grasscutter, sheep, rabbits, crabs and mushroom. The snail farm is however situated at Akotoshi No. 2 at Amasaman also in the Greater Accra Region.
In an interview with Mr. Brown, a trained agriculturist, at his farm at Ngleshie Amanfro, he said he started serious snail farming in 1992 at the same time working in the government agricultural sector from 1986 and left in 2002 in order to concentrate more on his farm and offer consultancy services to people who want to start farming.
He noted that in this country, snail farming had not been aggressive and to make matters worse for the few people, banks are also not supporting primary agriculture to access loans as they considered it as a high risk area.
He also said apart from financial problems, there was the problem of labour especially from the youth as most of the youths nowadays do not enjoy going into farming.
Mr. Brown mentioned that his farm at Ngleshie Amanfro has only two people including him working on it and the snail farm also has two permanent workers adding that sometimes people are hired for a day when the work becomes huge.
He said apart from people enjoying the sweet taste of snails, there were also some health benefits to derive from eating snails.
He explained that for every 100 grams of dressed snails, you are able to get 12-16 per cent of protein, 80.5 kilo calories of energy, 170 milligrams calcium, 3.5-4.5 milligrams iron, very low in fat, very low cholesterol level and has all the amino acids required by human beings.
Mr. Brown said snails were also not expensive to buy as it cost between ¢8,000 and ¢10,000 of a 100 gram size when it is in the season.
He noted that since government policies on agriculture were not pursued well, people are also not encouraged to pursue agribusiness, a sector that employs more labour and generates more income for the country.
He also said currently about 75-80 per cent of snails consumed in Accra are from the Ivory Coast with a bag of 45 kilos being sold at ¢560,000.
He added that on the average 300 bags of snails are sold at the markets in Accra from these foreigners.
Mr. Brown said for Ghana to give more concentration on snail farming like other sectors of agriculture and for snails to be exported to other countries, there was the need to get more raw materials which are the snails for processing.
He mentioned that some few people wanted to export snails but had to stop because they could not meet the minimum raw material requirement of a 20 footer container having about 120,000 pieces of canned processed snails.
Mr. Brown explained that in snail farming, about 100-450 eggs are laid three times in a year and on the average about 600 eggs are laid.
His farm currently has a breeding stock level of 16 pen units with each pen containing about 5,000 snails.
He advised people who want to venture into snail farming to always wait for about two to three years to understand the requirements of snails before marketing them as it would reduce the mortality rates of the snails.
He explained that for snail farming to be very strong there was the need for very good research programmes to look at feeding habits, disease control and the right packaging for snails.
Mr. Brown added that sophisticated equipment are also to be used to develop the sector and urged the government to import such equipment and sell them at subsidised rates for interested farmers.
He suggested that for the snail sector to meet export requirements there was the need for farmers to develop an outgrower scheme where people in a certain community grow snails of about 5,000 in their backyards and sell them to farmers who are ready to export them.
He said this was the only sustainable way and the farmer who would export them would also add produce from his farm.
Mr Brown’s consultancy services have seen him training more than 200 people just for this year and indication of people having keen interest in snail farming.
Apart from him selling to the market people, he also makes provisions for individuals and restaurants.
He mentioned that the commonest snail used in this country is Nwa Pa
(meaning good snail) and the breeding season for the snails are between March-June with a gestation period is 17-21 days.

SOME USEFUL FACTS ABOUT SNAIL FARMING

Snails are hermaphrodites and although they have both male and female reproductive organs, they must mate with another snail of the same species before they lay eggs.
Some snails may act as males one season and as females the next, with other snails playing both roles at once and fertilising each other simultaneously.
Snails need at least 2 inches deep in which to lay their eggs and require a moist, cool environment with ample humidity. Dry soil is not suitable for the preparation of a nest, nor is soil that is too heavy. In clay soil that becomes hard, reproduction rates may decrease because the nails are unable to bury their eggs and the hatchlings have difficulty emerging from the nest. Hatchability of eggs depends on soil temperature, soil humidity and soil composition.
Large areas are required for successful breeding and growing out snails. Overcrowding of snails can cause stress, stunted growth and poor feeding habits. Lower stocking rates produce larger snails in a shorter time.
Nutrition is important and care in feeding is vital to promote healthy, plump snails. A balanced diet of high fibre, grain-based dry food and vegetables with sufficient moisture and a calcium supplement is essential. The removal of leftover food should be carried out consistently to help avoid flies and disease.
Snails are matured when a lip forms at the opening of their shell.
Finally, market research and good marketing principles should be a priority before undertaking the business. Good skills in this area are essential as the market is limited. Individuals would need to approach the marketing of snails with confidence and knowledge about their product.