Crocodile Farming in Africa: An Interesting Niche Business Few Africans Know About

Crocodile farming in Africa is a major contributor to the global luxury market for designer handbags, shoes, belts and other leather accessories.

Currently, over one million crocodile skins are traded on the international market every year, exported legally from about 30 countries across the world.

In Africa, Zambia and South Africa are the largest operators of crocodile farms and producers of crocodile skins.

The Nile crocodile, which is the dominant crocodile species in Africa, is highly valued for its boneless underbelly and soft leather. It’s no surprise that the European market orders over 100,000 crocodile skins from Africa every year.

Asia is another big market for African crocodile skins, where it is used to produce non-branded leather products.

How large is the Crocodile farming Business in Africa?

Southern Africa dominates the crocodile farming business on the continent. South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and a few other countries in East Africa (especially Kenya) are home to the biggest crocodile farms in Africa.

The region exports over 250,000 crocodile skins every year.

Crocodile farms in Africa predominantly breed Nile crocodiles, which can grow to a length of 20 feet and weigh as much as 400 kilograms. Nile crocodiles are the second-largest crocodile breed in the world, after the saltwater crocodile.

In South Africa, there are about 50 registered crocodile farms with over 500,000 crocodiles. Every year, the country exports over 80,000 crocodile skins, worth $12 - 16 million.

Zimbabwe is another major producer of crocodile skins. In Zimbabwe, crocodile skin exports are worth close to $30m, as they are sent – mainly to Europe – to be crafted into handbags, boots and other accessories.

Why Would You Want to Start Crocodile farming Business?

First of all, determine the reasons for starting crocodile farming business.

• Why do you want to start this business?
• Do you have enough capital for starting?
• Do you have any prior experience to handle crocodiles?
• Do you have enough time?
• Do you have enough facilities for starting this business in your area?
• Can you sell your products easily from your area?

Most of the people want to start this business for financial purpose. Crocodile farming is very expensive (although profits are also very high) and you need to take a close look at your expectations and business model. So consider all the above questions, before starting.

How to Start Crocodile farming Business

It’s an expensive business to start and maintain. It can cost up to $2 million to set up a crocodile farm with 10,000 animals capable of producing 3,000 good quality skins a year. Apart from the high startup and maintenance costs, crocodile farmers may often wait for up to 5 years before the initial crocodile stocks mature, and can be harvested.

But if you can afford the capital and have the patience to hang on, the payoffs can be huge. One high-grade crocodile skin can fetch? Crocodiles are very dangerous animal. So making a commercial crocodile farm is not so easy. Here we are describing the steps for starting this business.

1. Licensing

It’s a regulated market. Crocodiles are wild animal. So you need to be licensed for raising them commercially. While crocodile farming is open to anyone, the sale of crocodile skins on the international market is strictly regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Before commercial crocodile farming, crocodiles in the wild were almost hunted to extinction for their skins.

Nowadays, due to the strict trade regulations and high quality demands in the crocodile skin market, rendered skins from wild crocodiles are worthless as they do not meet the high standards on the international market. This has helped to save the dwindling crocodile populations worldwide.

2. Training

Before starting, it will be better, if you visit some existing commercial crocodile farms. Try to learn everything related to this business from those farmers. If possible, work on some farms as a volunteer for learning more about the raising system, advantages and problems of this business. Thus you can train yourself for this business. Crocodiles are cannibalistic. While this sounds awful, it’s actually a good thing because it saves feeding costs and eliminates waste in the crocodile farming business. After mature crocodiles are slaughtered for their skins, only about 10 percent of the meat is actually sold on the market. That’s because the demand for crocodile meat is not yet as high as crocodile skins. Most often, the excess crocodile meat is fed to other crocodiles because the species is naturally cannibalistic. Many farmers also feed crocodiles chickens that die on chicken farms. This poses no health risk to the crocodile, but meat from these crocodiles can’t be used for human consumption.

3. Select a Suitable Site

Select a suitable site for starting crocodile farming business. It will be better, if you can choose such an area where wild crocodiles are living naturally. Try to choose such land which is suitable for crocodile breeding and growing. Ensure good transportation system, so that you can get all types of help in case of an emergency.

4. Constructing Building

Usually an area of about 800 square feet cooler, freezer and storage space is suitable enough for housing the incubation room. No nursery is needed in the incubation room, as the grow-out building holds the new hatchlings. A grow out building with about 5,000 square feet space is ideal. Different grow out building designs include concrete block, wood, or metal buildings. But all are thoroughly insulated and rest on a heated concrete foundation. Crocodiles require a consistent temperature of 86° to 88° Fahrenheit. So use hot water pipes, run through the concrete for providing a consistent temperature in the building. You can use electric heating coils. Construct additional buildings for keeping different aged crocodiles separated from each other.

5. Feeding

For proper growth, healthy feeding is a must. So always feed them fresh foods. Always keep a stock of fresh frozen meats on hand. Usually beef, chicken, deer, fish, horse meat etc. are used for commercial crocodile farming business. For ensuring a proper growth, you have to use proper feeding rates. For the first year, feed them 25 percent food per week according to their body weight. Reduce the amount of feed to 18 percent by their third year of age. Always provide them adequate food, but don’t overfeed them. Because overfeeding can cause gout in crocodiles.

6. Care

Always try to keep your crocodiles stress free. Because a stressed crocodile may develop brown spot disease. This disease creates discoloured spots on the hides of the crocodile, and it reduce their value. Avoid overcrowding in the pens. Crocodiles don’t congregate except the breeding season. Keep a limited number of crocodiles in a single pen. And try to minimize outside noise by insulating the building. Clean the pens on a regular basis. Don’t agitate the crocodiles just before, during or after feeding. You can perform pen cleaning process in the morning.

7. Crocodile Biology and Behaviour

Here are a few things you should know about how crocodiles live and behave:

• Crocodiles are cold-blooded animals, which makes them extremely sensitive to temperature changes. Only a 3°C variance in their core body temperature can slow their metabolism by half, hampering their ability to absorb food and grow. This can be a challenge during the winter months in places like South Africa and Zimbabwe.
• Crocodiles reach maturity at 3 years old, when they can mate and produce offspring. Female Nile crocodiles can lay between 30 to 45 eggs, once a year around October or November.
• On crocodile farms, the eggs are removed and placed, for better control, in an incubator. When they’re about to hatch, baby crocodiles make a high pitched call and then crack the shell with a temporary “egg-tooth” on the tip of the snout.
• The temperature of incubation determines the sex of the crocodiles. Temperature between 26ºC and 30ºC produces mostly females and between 30ºC and 33ºC produces mostly males.

Ready to take on the crocodile farming in Africa?

As the global economy grows and more people join the upper and middle classes, the demand for luxury products will likely continue to rise. This presents a unique business opportunity for producers of exotic skins like crocodile and ostrich.

Africa has a unique advantage in the crocodile skin business. The Nile crocodile species survives well in captivity and its skins are highly sought after in the luxury leather market.

However, success in this business depends on access to significant capital for startup and maintenance, expertise and experience in crocodile behaviour, nutrition and biology.