USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: Edo_Global. CAN A MAN MAKE A LIVING FROM GRASSCUTTER? [VERY INTERESTING]

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From: Benin youth Forum <beninyouthforum@rocketmail.com>
Date: 25 July 2011 16:24
Subject: Edo_Global. CAN A MAN MAKE A LIVING FROM GRASSCUTTER?
To: "Edo-Nation@yahoogroups.com" <Edo-Nation@yahoogroups.com>, "Edo_Global@yahoogroups.com" <Edo_Global@yahoogroups.com>, "edo-ciao@yahoogroups.com" <edo-ciao@yahoogroups.com>

 

CAN A MAN MAKE A LIVING FROM GRASSCUTTER?

 

Going into any business enterprise is about perspective, opportunity, resources and scale. Yes!!!  You can make a living from anything as long as it is legit, even from livestock farming like Grasscutter. We all have this yawning to be successful like Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Richard Brandson, Dangote and the like, but very few bothered to study how these people started.  Many of us are conditioned to think inside the box, and always looking for illusive white-collar jobs or a get rich quick venture. There is nothing wrong dreaming and working towards your dream. In fact, you are dead the very minute you stop dreaming and hoping for a better tomorrow, but meaningful dreams must be practical and actionable taken into consideration perceived constraints and realistic expectations.  

  

Perspective: given that there are few white collar jobs relative to the number of graduates from our Universities, and colleges, the alternative is to be entrepreneurial in our thoughts and deals by pursuing business opportunities. If the prospect of becoming an entrepreneur is further constrained by a lack of capital, you are better off looking for a low capital and high returns business opportunity such as presented by the Grasscutter livestock farming.  Embarking on any business enterprise involves identifying an opportunity (gaps in the market) and doing all that is necessary to realise or meet such opportunity, including having a good business plan or plan of action, finances, expertise's and above all, the drive and determination to succeed against all odds etc.

 

Opportunity: Imagine the market for Grasscutters!!!    Imagine having to supply restaurants, hotels and "mama Put" across the country.  Imagine the population of Nigeria and our yawing for quality bush meat.  Also imagine, the low start-up cost of a Grasscutter farm about N50,000, the lack of heavy equipment, and the fact that it can be located almost anywhere and with almost lack of Vet intervention. Imagine the feeds, you don't have to pay huge amount of money on expensive feeds, all you need is grass, which is abundant in Edo State. Labour, imagine you only need to spend less than one hour per day looking after them.

 

Resources and scale: Imagine the Grasscutter business in the same way as a poultry farming, imagine, Grasscutters breeding period, within one year a grasscutter can produce up to 8 offspring each with a retail market value of N30,000 or more. Often, we are surprised to see that livestock farming such as Grasscutter can be well planned.  Imagine that you don't even have to physically manage the farm as you can pay few labourers to do the dirty part.  All you need is to build your market (customer base). A Grasscutter business enterprise can be a big venture if you have the time, energy, passion, and resources to turn it into a mini mechanised farming. It can also become a good source for job creation, provided we see it as a viable business enterprise rather than just rearing grasscutters. If the business become big, say you invest between N500,000 – N1,000,000 initially, you will need to employ, labourers (farmers), sales people to develop the customer base, a driver and a van to deliver your stock, or to process it ready for premium market consumption.  The business can also offer a source of income and employment where one can depend on grasscutter for his / her livelihood. In fact, grasscutter farming should create job opportunities for the urban and rural dwellers. The business of producing, processing, transporting, storing, financing and servicing grasscutter products should give employment to many people.

For aspiring entrepreneurs and those who are able to think outsider the box, Grasscutter farming can becoming a big business opportunity depending on our  perspective, resources and the scale of our operations.

                                                                                      

Furthermore, Livestock farming such as Grasscutters can be mated in two ways:

 

·         Randomly—by putting a few males and a few females of one species in a pen and allowing them to mate with whichever one they want.

 

·         Inbreeding—by mating animals that are closely related.  They pick two that are related and have really good genes so that the baby will have them, too.

 

Ghana study:

Orla Ryan, BBC News, Ghana reported on 3 April 2006 that Bush meat boom benefits Ghana's farmers. Teye Ocansey is pushing grass through the wire front of one of a stack of cages to the hungry, twitching animal inside.  The cages contain grasscutters - bush animals which are such a delicacy in Ghana that they are now being farmed to meet demand. Mr Ocansey started to farm grasscutters as a hobby 10 years ago. Since then, he has seen his business grow to generate a healthy profit from the 260 grasscutters he keeps in a small shed in the Accra suburb of Awoshie. "It is a delicacy meat and people like it more than other meats," says Mr Ocansey, a member of a grasscutter farmers' co-operative. "The cholesterol is very low. There is no religious barrier. Everybody likes grasscutter, the Muslims don't like pork but they like grasscutter."

 

One of the perks of the job, Mr Ocansey says, is that there is always grasscutter meat in his fridge. The lean meat can be eaten with fufu or pounded yam, served in okra soup or made into a meat pie. For the true gourmet, the grass fermenting in the creature's intestines can be extracted to make soup. The farming may be new, but Ghanaians' taste for grasscutter is hallowed by tradition. But the old ways of hunting the animals - by starting bushfires to scare them, and other kinds of bush meat, out of their natural habitat - had prompted environmentalist concern. "Ghanaians are crazy for bush meat, they will hunt for bush meat as long as there is some," says Rita Weidinger, who works for German development agency GTZ. "So we asked ourselves: if we have this market demand, how can we satisfy it without destroying the environment? "Grasscutter hunting is a lucrative business, so we need to provide alternatives or hunters will continue to exhaust grasscutters. "For Ms Weidinger, the alternative is to encourage people to farm grasscutters.

 

As a commercial enterprise grasscutter farming remains the preserve of no more than a handful of people, but with thousands keeping them as a hobby. Ms Weidinger argues that each animal only requires about 10 minutes of care a day, and adds that a female grasscutter - which produces about seven babies a year - generates an average profit per year of 30 euros. The next step could be to look further afield into overseas market. On the one hand, Ghana's grasscutter farmers are preparing to rear breeding stock for neighbouring countries. On the other, the huge diaspora of Ghanaians overseas longing for a taste of home could also prove lucrative. But with local demand for grasscutters booming, most farmers are unlikely to need to seek markets far from home, Ms Weidinger believes. "It will be a niche market for a few farmers who have requirements to meet it," she says. For once, the Ghanaians are breeding their own bush meat, instead of hunting them. The farmers themselves argue that their business is a more attractive proposition to customers than simply buying on the street.   Grasscutter farmer, Cephas Ababio, said, "People feel easy to buy them here rather than from a poacher," ….I sold some four grasscutters and I was able to meet school fees."

 

According to Ismail AbdulAzeez, The Managing Consultant, The Thy Consulting, economic importance of grasscutter farming include the followings.

·         Source of Food: Grasscutter meat is delicious and is regarded as a delicacy in Nigeria diet. Everything, but the hair are eaten. The nutritive value of grasscutter is relatively high. The crude protein content of the meat is about 22.7% compared to 20.7% for rabbit meat, 19.25% for chicken meat and 18.2 for beef.

 

·         As Pet: People usually derived pleasure and satisfaction from raising grasscutters.

 

·         For Treating Wound: The hairs, after burning, are used as a lotion to treat wounds.

 

·         Production of Pharmaceuticals: The pancreas of grasscutter is believed to have a high concentration of insulin, which is used in local preparation for treatment of diabetes. There is possibility of using the brains, blood and various organs for producing various biological products for use in medicine and research generally could be explored.

 

·         As Ornament: The teeth are used as ornament e.g. necklace, in some places.

 

·         Absence of Religious, Tribal or Social Bias: There is no known religious discrimination, tribal or social bias against grasscutter meat and no competition with man for food.

 

·         Preservation of Ecological System: Grasscutter farming reduces bush burning.

 

·         It Reduces Crime: Since it serves and source of food and employment, it indirectly reduces crime in our economy and other West African countries where grasscutter farming is being practiced.

 

·         Required Small Capital and Running Cost: It is a business venture that one can start with as little as N50,000 on a small and grown into viable business within a short period of time.

 

·         Medication is Almost Nil: With proper hygiene and good feed in grasscutter farming medication is almost nil.

 

·         High Demand: Both live and dead grasscutters are in high demand at any time.

 

·         No Competition With Man for Food: They feed mostly on grasses and other agro by products like maize, sorghum, groundnut, millet, cassava etc.

 

JOVANA FARMS is organising a seminar on Grasscutting farming in Benin City on 24th August, 2011. Time: 10am at Hotel Philomena, 19, Okhoro Road, Off New Lagos Road, Telephone: 08033262808, 08029373076, 08052168189 and the FEE: is N=6,500 per delegate, http://www.jovanafarm.com

 

Disclaimer: The Benin Youth Forum is not associated with JOVANA FARMS in any form

 

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