Rosemary Odinga is arguably the only entrepreneur who’s actively involved in snail farming in Kenya. Unlike in West Africa where snails are heavily consumed as a delicacy, East Africans aren’t big fans of snail meat.
Rosemary discovered the business opportunity in snail farming after a visit to Nigeria. She started her snail farm nearly 8 years ago, and hasn’t looked back since.
Her biggest customers are expatriates in Kenya who come from Europe, Asia and West Africa who, unlike the locals, have a developed taste for snail meat — which is a very healthy meat; high in protein and very low in cholesterol.
Africa is home to the largest species of snail in the world; the Giant African land snail (botanical name: ‘Achatina fulica’). Compared to other livestock, snails are easy and cheap to keep and maintain. And when you target the right market and customers, snail farming can be a very rewarding business.
In this short video, Rosemary shares her experience in the snail farming business in Kenya — her startup journey, mistakes, challenges and insights.
If you’d like to learn more about the business of snail farming, there’s an article that’s loaded with lots of useful information, including a step-by-step manual that contains everything you need to know about snail farming. You’ll find it here: Snail Farming – How to farm these slow creatures for fast profits in Africa
Note:
In the video below, Rosemary mentions that to operate a snail farm in Kenya, you need a permit from the Kenya Wildlife Service, as snails can be very devastating pests. I find this quite shocking because in Nigeria and most parts of West Africa, there’s no such thing as a permit to carry on snail farming!I think the reason snails haven’t been able to cause damage as pests in West Africa is because we eat lots of them every year, thereby keeping their population in check! And since snails aren’t eaten in East Africa, that could explain why they’re able to multiply, roam freely and cause damage.
Just my opinion though. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Enjoy the video!
Video credit: CNBC Africa
The post Why aren’t snails eaten in East Africa? Meet Rosemary, Kenya’s ONLY Snail Farmer! appeared first on Smallstarter Africa.