Zambia Agribusiness Society

Rabbits are fast growing animals that take 4 to 5 months to mature for slaughter. They reproduce very fast, kindling (giving birth) four times a year to an average of 8 kits per kindle. There are different breeds of rabbits available, the California white, Chinchilla, Dutch, New Zealand white, Flemish giant, French lop and the Angora. A male rabbit is called a buck while a female rabbit is a doe and their young ones are called kits. 1. Rabbit Housing Managing rabbits starts with constructing a proper house. A rabbit house is called a hutch and may be constructed with wood, concrete or iron sheets depending on the materials available to you. Each adult rabbit should occupy its own hutch that measures 2.5ft long x 2.5ft wide x 2ft high. The weaned kits may be placed in hutches 4.5ft x 2.5ft x 2ft. Every doe’s hutch should have a nesting box, where she will give birth and care for her litter. The floor of the rabbit hutch should be made of chicken mesh reinforced with a wire m

To fulfil the food demand for a growing population, we have to find out different ways of food production. The rabbit known as “ micro-livestock ” can be a great source of food production. This is a great opportunity for rabbit farming, and commercial production can be a great source of income and employment. Rabbits need small place for living and less food for surviving. Rabbit meat contains high ratio of protein, energy, calcium and vitamin than any other types of animal meat. The amount of cholesterol, fat and sodium is also less than other meat. Their meat is very testy, nutritious and easily digestible for all aged people. And there are no religious taboos for consuming rabbit meat. Rabbits grow very fast and the female rabbit produce 2 to 8 kids every time. They can consume very low quality food and turn this foods to high quality meat, skin or fibre. Raising rabbits can be a great income source to the unemployed, educated people and landless farmers. So commercial rabbit