Cyclone Freddy Affected Farmers Eyeing Cuniculture

Chulesi in front of his maize field where he applied rabbit poop manure Chulesi in front of his maize field where he applied rabbit poop manure - pic by Moses Masiye

Attention of most farmers from the seven districts comprising Blantyre Agriculture Development Division (BLADD) who attended a field day in Mwanza on Thursday have shifted to rabbit rearing after learning from how their fellow farmer made it big.

Within three years, 44 year old Kondwani Chulesi of Minjale village Traditional Authority Govati in Mwanza district has managed to build a house, sending all his four children to school without fail, and harvesting surplus maize-all from cuniculture.

Chulesi told several stakeholders and farmers who attended the field day which Mwanza District Agricultural Extension Coordinating Committee (DAECC) organised alongside BLADD that he started with 3 does and one blur her daughter Catherine received from Farmers Union of Malawi 3 years ago under Adolescent nutrition sensitive agriculture (ANSA) project.

He said:- "I have managed to pay school and examination fees for Catherine who is now in form four with ease and built a good house from rabbit sales, while on the other hand harvesting surplus maize using rabbit poop manure. I have made about 3 million kwacha cash after selling 796 rabbits, whilst eating some as our great source of protein."

Iness George, a farmer of Kauliza village in Mwanza said she was taken by surprise to learn that such small livestock can be of great value.

"I am definitely going back with my mind made up to venture into rabbit husbandry after learning from Chulesi, knowing that this does not require huge capital to start unlike other big livestock," said Kauliza.

BLADD Chief Animal Health And Livestock Development Officer Dr. Edwin Nkhulungo has asked farmers in districts affected by Cyclone Freddy and other climate change challenges to consider rearing affordable and small livestock that reproduce quickly. 

"Small livestock like rabbits are easy to rear considering that they need small space as well as manageable size of feed unlike others like cattle, thereby may be easy for Cyclone Freddy affected farmers to get on their feet quickly," said Dr. Nkhulungo.

DAECC member from Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Aubrey Sidik, said they organised the field day to accord farmers a chance of learning from each other on best agriculture practices that withstand the wrath of climate change challenges.

"We feel to have scored the purpose that farmers should learn from each other through the field day we organised under the theme 'Diversified Agricultural technologies - key to food, nutrition and income security amidst climate change," said Sidik.

Read 1175 times

Last modified on Friday, 07/04/2023

Login to post comments
Go to top
JSN Time 2 is designed by JoomlaShine.com | powered by JSN Sun Framework