One of the best way to go in agriculture is Heliculture (Scientific Snail Farming). It simply means domesticating snails, making them feel cool at home as though they're in their real natural home.

The demand for the African Achantina Achantina Snails is very high more than its supply, why? because, very few knows the techniques and skill of rearing the Congo meat at home. And the few in the business are not willing to expose their knowledge, considering the profit turnover in the business. The strengtht of the business is its low startup capital requirement, its a simple business you can venture on part time bases and can be operated even right in ur backyard or varender.

From our years of experience in the trade, we have put together our wealth of experience in an all comprehensive ebook for your carefull and easy understanding. See details here: www.snailfarmingng..com
07063249904; 08188573805

I will see you @ the top!

One of the best way to go in agriculture is Heliculture (Scientific Snail Farming). It simply means domesticating snails, making them feel cool at home as though they're in their real natural home.

The demand for the African Achantina Achantina Snails is very high more than its supply, why? because, very few knows the techniques and skill of rearing the Congo meat at home. And the few in the business are not willing to expose their knowledge, considering the profit turnover in the business.

From our years of experience in the trade, we have put together our wealth of experience in an all comprehensive ebook for your carefull and easy understanding. See details here: www.snailfarmingng..com
07063249904; 08188573805

I will see you @ the top!

@zogo,are you a practising farmer?if you are one of those laptop farmers(i mean those doing farming inside their room with their laptop),please stop deceiving people. I always advice anybody that wants to start livestock farming to look for a good farm for practicals.using ebook to start livestock can never help you.GOD BLESS

Am presently in ogbomoso for the next one week but my farm is in ekiti state..in you can make it to any of those place i will take you through the practical aspect..i believe seen is believing...you can nail me sunmonuolawale@gmail.com for more details

@ Lawmann, as much as I dislike criticism, I always embrace CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Despite d fact dat I am an agric graduate, I had several business failures some years back. I was into fishery, broiler production, maize production. In agric, advice from a practicing farmer is better than a scientific experiment publication from a theoretical prof! Stress, sweat, unpredictable weather, human being unfulfilled promises, money management and many other things are not quantifiable. Pls, let everyone look very well before jumping at any agric business. I take God beg all of una.

But now, I can give anyone a valid and viable practical technical know how. I am into piggery and snailry now. I will include Rabbitary, dry season vegetable production and poultry within the next two to three months by Gods grace. I don't know how to upload pix, I would have upload some pixs from my 2 and half plot farm in Ondo state. Thanks to God and my very supportive family.

@unbeatable, how lucrative is this vegetable farming on a half plot land. I have a wasting half plot near a river.

@the unbeatable agriculture is not for hustlers..and lazy people you must all your money at hand before you jump into it and plan for it very well,there was a time i lost about 1000layers at about 27th week...this was due to some unnecessary risk i was trying to take..you ve to follow all the rules..and always have a professinal who will visit your farm regularly to give you hints..thanks

@ condi1704 dry season farming is calso known as fadama! it is planting at river basins and beds or irrigation agriculture. plants with short livespans are usually planted such as vegetables, maize ... dry season vegetable production is very lucrative because majority of the local fermers will be out of business since they depend on rain fed agriculture. once your produce gets to the market, i dont tink you will wait up to one hour because market resellers will clear your goods within minutes dat is if they dont tear or injure you in a bid to quickly take d best. Start up capital is low( since land is available) you will need a soil suitability test to know what crop is best for the land and the soil nutrient state. This will give you a Clue in what type of fertilizer to use and the quantity to apply if need be. You already have a source of water, so you need a watering can if you want the labourious farming or set up a mini irrigation system( get all your wetting done with just pressing a button). You need labour to make seed beds, weeding( hand weeded or use of herbicide) , spraying and harvesting( all these you can do yourself or with your family). I dont adhere strictly to the rules of budgetting because "all things are not that equall always in Nigeria" so you use the money at hand to do all you want. This is when the rule of "cheap substitute/ alternative" sets in. Bros, its morning ( Owuro lojo) like my people say! I need to get to work. I will reply dr isa when I get back.

@ dr isa, as much as I agree with you, I issue dat agric is not a business for "the hustler" does not go down well with me! In agric, you see your investment grow with your korokoro eyes! A calabash of palm wine under a "fruit tree" is a good investment energiser after taking a glimse at your growing crops and animals.

Pls how much does it cost to start a snail farming.?

This thread is making alot of sense. Thanks to Dr. Isa, The Unbeatable and others for their wonderful posts.

Lawmann: @zogo,are you a practising farmer?if you are one of those laptop farmers(i mean those doing farming inside their room with their laptop),please stop deceiving people. I always advice anybody that wants to start livestock farming to look for a good farm for practicals.using ebook to start livestock can never help you.GOD BLESS

@Zogo with just 3k you will give out all the secrete of your sososososososo lucrative snail farming dat you probably have'nt done, better face your laptop business strong.
People are making high profile contributions that is capable of impacting lifes, instead of you to learn from the gurus, u are interested in our 3k na wa owwww.

i am interested in going into ostrich farming,is anyone with an ideal ?as i intend increasing it to a commercial quantity in due course,as soon as i start up thanks

The simple truth here is that, livestock farming has nothing to do with all these so called e-books. It's a practical thing; and if you must success, then you need nothing but absolute pratical training. In the mood of celebrating the independence..... JeromFarms in conjunction with JEROMPROJECT is inviting all intending and interested livestock farmers to an Intensive Practical Seminar on the fortunes in rearing Grasscutter. More knowledge and secrets will be unveiled..... Its going to be a great moment that you can't afford to miss. Venue @ Ocean Hotel, Behind R-Jolad Hospital, Gbagada Phase II, Lagos. Time: 10am. Fee: N7,000 only. Visit www.jeromfarmprojects.com to reserve your seat or call 08095663885 for more details. Its not a tiime for stories but real truth and real live practical workshop on the secret to making silent millions from grasscutter farming. Come and hear from the mouth of the real giants in the game.

have a look at this http://animalfarminc.com/livestock.pdf

@Emmysteve, I like you because you have actions not only mouth! Befor you start snail farming, I want to ask you some questions:
Where do you live? (State, local govt, your street, your house) answer this questions inside you o! Your environment determine your business sometimes. E.g if you live in Yobe state, even abuja gaan, the heat/temperature can not be compared with someone in Edo,Delta or Ondo state! We need to look into the environmental/weather or even soil requirements of some animals. Or can you imagine someone living in the riverine areas (Ilaje side) of ondo state saying He wants to embark on grasscutter rearing? Before we moove on sir, we need to consider pilfering (thieves)! Some places have more unfaithful people than the other e.g, Oyo and Lagos state. I stand to be corrected though! Imagine you raising snails among Lagos people even if your house is fenced! In some areas in Ibadan e.g Ajibode, Apata (wire and cable side) just to mention a few, stealling is rear! Ahen, in relatively safe places like these, siting of live stock is suitable.

Housing of snails is not a big deal. Your investment all depend on your capital. If you have either huge or small capital, you can start. You can use bascket to house them, you can use cage like the rabbit cage, you can use covered drums with perforations. The major thing is there must be soil in your housing and it must be kept moist always. Avoid insects from getting into the housing. Keep it as natural as possible!

STOCKING: ime getting you brooding or parent stock. Snails are hermaphrodite(they have both male and female reproductive organs in themselves). If you don't have plenty money, look around you house and gather the snails you can see! If you have money go and buy at the road sides. Please don't buy the snails with broken shells. I heared they will not grow but am trying to prove that now because I have one or two snails with broken shells in my farm and am observing them if trully what we learnt in school is true, real and practiceable!
Majority of our snails in Yoruba land Grow well to a considerable size! The question I pose to everyone is this " is it only Achachatina Marginata you eat?" Even in our side there is this small snail that we use to cook, we call it "Ipere" is that Achachatina? For all prospective snail farmers, if you you are always moved by what people say of or about you, you will not do anything! And don't think there will be a proper time "when there will be money" that you will start! That time will never come, my people!

FEEDING: my snails eat "chromolena odorata"(Akintola plant), Talinum fruticosum(Water leaf), decaying cassava peels, I heared they eat cocoyam leaf but I have not given them before. I give them ripe Carica papaya(pawpaw). Those are what I use to feed my over 30 snails of 4-5 different breeds.
I choose not to bamboozzle you with all the scientific names anymore, pls pardon me! Its just to drive home my points that its actually my line and my passion! I am not an authority on anything, We are all learning! There are many things I still don't know in this my line and it may be you( my reader now) that will teach me. So please don't hesistate to share your knowledge( that you know is viable o not what you heared from someone, please) for example, someone said pigs eat cassava peels and a pig farmer went to feed his pigs with cassava peels the other day, he was surprised when he got back that the pigs are dead! (That is 'owo wogbo ' monney enter bush I.e major loss) not knowing that it is dried cassava peels that pigs likes eating. I have tried it with mine and it worked! Cassava has high HCN (hydro cyanide or hydro cyanic acid) that is why garri is allowed to ferment before frying or "Epo pupa" (palm / Red oil ) is used when frying in some places.

Emmysteve, please forgive me. I need to go out now. I will finish up your snail rearing stuffs when next am relaxed again and I will ansa SuNdi ata a ( ostrich farming) give Jerom project some advice and greet my friend Dr Isa!

Please bear with me if I am not replying often because I use no manual but "my brain" and it takes some time before I can bring togrther and translate what is on my mind into what an unschooled person can easily understand! Thank you and remain husslling! Your brother, The Unbeatable.

The Unbeatable: Emmysteve, please forgive me. I need to go out now. I will finish up your snail rearing stuffs when next am relaxed again and I will ansa SuNdi ata a ( ostrich farming) give Jerom project some advice and greet my friend Dr Isa!

Please bear with me if I am not replying often because I use no manual but "my brain" and it takes some time before I can bring togrther and translate what is on my mind into what an unschooled person can easily understand! Thank you and remain husslling! Your brother, The Unbeatable.

thanks for the contribution bro

doctor isa: thanks for the contribution bro

pls enlighten me on ram rearing, the dos and donts

pechiko: pls enlighten me on ram rearing, the dos and donts

ram and sheep follows the same trend download the book below for hint about it

Nice threads!Agriculture is a very lurative business and so much offers opportunities as far as your eyes can see.Talking about crop production,they are numerous;is it from supplying seeds and fertiliser to cultivating high priced crops? or is it in processing them to make extra profit?
This is only for crop production,not to mention selling of breeding stocks,rearing and selling stocks,processing into foods for the consumer.All these aspect taken separately offers several opportunities which if i start to mention might not be able to exhaust them.
Livestock rearing- Snailry,Piggery,poultry,ostrich rearing e.t.c are multimillion naira business which have made people multimillionaire in the shortest time ever.Agribusiness is the business to venture in which will provide more than a living for one.The thing is just to know where you are going and have a plan for it.
We are selling land for poultry,piggery and any other livestock projects.Contact Mr Gbenga on 08164628081 or For more info on agricultural business visit us on www.facebook.com/lesgupnigeria

The Unbeatable: Emmysteve, please forgive me. I need to go out now. I will finish up your snail rearing stuffs when next am relaxed again and I will ansa SuNdi ata a ( ostrich farming) give Jerom project some advice and greet my friend Dr Isa!

Please bear with me if I am not replying often because I use no manual but "my brain" and it takes some time before I can bring togrther and translate what is on my mind into what an unschooled person can easily understand! Thank you and remain husslling! Your brother, The Unbeatable.

Good bless you my brother, i indeed benefited immersely from your write up. More questions pls.

*Which specie is the best to rear?
*for a beginer, how many snails can one start with with a small capital?

Thank you and God bless.

emmysteve, i fed my snails with cocoyam leaves today. let me observe the outcome and iiii can validate it for you sir. one thing i dint talk about was
routine maintainance:
water your snailry every other day (i.e every 2 days). please control insect intrusion into your pens. once your pen is well airated, you will have less problems!
@ sunata a, ostrich farming is a goood venture but i have not been to a farm with ostriches before even the prestigious sunghai farms in porto novo dont have because i have been there several times. but i have a magazine that has the contact of someone that rears it in nigeria. i have checked for it but not found it. if i get it i will update you.

Whaaaaoooooh, as I sent my reply just now, I my leg kicked the magazine inside my wordrope ooo! Its only the mans e mail that is there o.
This is it:olatunde akanbi@co.uk
Cheers to all!!!

At emmysteve, "specie best to rear"?
Hmnn, me don't undastand you again o(laughing) na which snail people no dey buy? Even my mother buys "Igbin Orisa" (one scary looking snail like that) even periwinkle, "Ipere" all snails are marketable and they appreciate in size over several months.

My bro, start with whatever you have, rome was not built in a day! Even if its 1k you have, go to where snails are sold and buy the ones without broken shells. Ik should be able to buy 3-4 250g-450g weight snails, cover them with a basket and put stone on the basket.
Oooh laaalaaa, you have a pen already! Stop following all this scientific tins hook line ans sinker at least we were existing before the Oyibo bamboozzlement. Will oyibos be teaching us how to rear our own "African" snails again? ( Laughing) bros, go start something abeg!

sundiata a: i am interested in going into ostrich farming,is anyone with an ideal ?as i intend increasing it to a commercial quantity in due course,as soon as i start up thanks

An investor who really wants to go into this business will need at least half plot of land. The land should be fenced only to prevent the birds from moving away on their own from the farm. The fencing can be made with blocks or preferably thick wire gauze as this allows tourist to see animals, which is the main attraction. The roof should be left open, as the bird cannot fly. It is also important that some tree shrubs are left in the farm, which could serve as sheds to the birds during hot weather.

FEED

Mostly, Ostrich feeds on leaves, fruits, grains, small animals (rat, etc) and tubers like cassava, cocoyam, potatoes, yam and enough water. Today, we have very good feed-mix that can be formulated from feed mill centers to boost fast growth. Concerning mortality rate, as the largest bird in the world, Ostrich has the strongest body immunity to diseases more than any other bird in existence. They are given no steroid, hormones, chemicals or vaccines.

After about 18-months, the laying of eggs start for domesticated birds, fertilization of egg is internal. A bird well cared for can lay up to 60-eggs in a year, and each egg is as big as children football.

BENEFIT OF OSTRICH FARMING

Although many people are unaware, Ostriches produce more meat than cattle and contains the least fat, calories and cholesterol of all meats (beef, chicken, pork, lamb, goat and turkey). Because they are not as common as other meats, Ostrich produce fetches a very high price. They can be slaughtered between 8-18months. In a world that is more than likely to switch to low-calorie and healthier meats in the near future, Ostrich farmers are positioning themselves to cash in on the huge opportunity. Ostrich farming is a big vision for a big bird that brings in big profit.

With the continuing decline in the consumption of red meat in favour of low fat alternatives, the Ostrich meat is infact, “the meat for the millennium”. A high-priced exotic meat attractive to health-conscious consumers in the affluent world.



MARKET POTENTIALS

From selling the eggs an investor has started making money. Each fertile egg is sold for between N30,000 to N40,000. Then if the egg is hatched, (which is 42 to 45 days) the young bird is sold for about N80,000. Then if the bird is about 6-months old it is sold for between N180,000 and N200,000. Ostrich are probably the least farmed birds in the world. This is quite shocking given the amazing features of the Ostrich that makes it such a lucrative agricultural venture. Apart from the meat, which is very low in cholesterol and high in protein. It is excellent for hypertensive cases and for those watching weight. The feathers are bought for decoration, while the skin is highly priced for ostentatious leather works. Apart from the above needs, Ostrich is an animal of unique feature and this makes the animal tradable for tourist uses. Various zoos, holiday resorts, big Hotels, Children amusement parks across the world demand ostrich for tourist needs.

you can contact jovana farm through :info@jovanafarm.com
this is there address 127, Isolo Rd., Mushin, Lagos

Nice thread you got here, thanks to Dr Isa and some other peeps that contributed immensely to this thread. I'm an agric graduate, a Fishery Society of Nigeria(FISON) member and in the course of my study, I had working experiences in my skool farm and some other Federal govt. Established research centres around the country.

National institute for freshwater fisheries research(N.I.F.F.R), new bussa, Niger state. We had concise practicals on rearing of somespecies of fresh water fishes and ofcourse, spawning.

National institute for Oceanography and marine research (N.I.O.M.R), Victoria Island Lagos. We learnt how to rear shrimps amd lobsters.

Finally; Africa Regional Aquaculture centre (A.R.A.C), Aluu, Port harcourt. Did another concise practicals on fisheries, heliculture, pigery, pineapple farming and some others.

Sorry for the long write up but I'm trying to make some points. Sometimes you really don't need ebooks for some animals, what Dr Isa and someothers have dropped here is enough for you to start something on your own with the exemption on fisheries, don't jump into fisheries without a practical knowledge on it cos you'd be so disappointed.

Rabbit rearing, snailry, poultry farming, grasscutter, goats, ram, pigery and other livestocks could be managed by someone that got little knowledge about them.

Personally, I've reared rabbits on my own,on a small scale, without no knowledge about it, even b4 I got an admission into the uni. Bought just a male and 2 females and as a novice, I kept them 2gether. After sometime, one of the female got pregnant and gave birth. Common sense told me to separate d other two from the one that gave birth and I did just that. It worked perfectly. From there I started having experiences on my own, on how to handle them, the food they love most and some other lil stuff.

I went into poultry, bought some day old cockerels, broilers, layers and turkey(not day old). Reared them on different cages. To cut d long story short, I got some experiences in that line also. Got to understand that turkey tends to be more vulnerable to illness and as a novice,I poured tetracycline capsule(red n yellow capsule) in their drinkin water(laughing) and they got fine. Whenevr it happens, that what I do and it works fine even wit broilers but cockerel and layers, tend to be stronger (my experience, yours may be different)

My point, try somethings yourself, don't wait for someone to do everything 4 u, do some research yourself, everyone started as a novice. Some people's experiences might be different from yours and don't go into Agriculture just because a friend of yours ventures into it or because you heard there's cash in it. Do it because you love it.

Currently, for now I'm not into agric cos I'm workin wit a company, need to sort for capital to venture into it again but dis time, on a large scale kind of cos I've gotten d experience and I've read some articles to add up to my knowledge. I'd go into poultry farming, rabbits, grasscutters (though in a small scale cos I need to have experience on that also), snail, fisheries(integrated culture system) and by God's grace, with time, I'd expand to goats, ram, cow and pigs

Advice: for starters, pls if you don't have another means of income, don't venture into fisheries nor poultry farming. You could rear grasscutters, rabbit, snails goats and rams with little or no capital in feeding them. Elephant grass is everywhere,wasted cabbage peels is in the market, go collect dem and free foods that they like. So on so on so on

As for those that would love to go into fisheries, for fingerling production in order to rear or for sales. I'd post how to go about it here pretty soon. It's called induced spawning/propagation.

As for those goin into snailry, covering your hutch with net and maybe wood wouldn't protect your snails from some predators. Snails have quite a number of enemies, ants, centipede, milipede and some other insects. I'd drop what you can do here to check those predators from entering into your hutches. Net could prevent centipede and milipede but not ants. Would drop how to prevent ants later

Seems I've written a lot in just one post. Pls don't be mad about my post. Do have a nice time guys

The Unbeatable: At emmysteve, "specie best to rear"?
Hmnn, me don't undastand you again o(laughing) na which snail people no dey buy? Even my mother buys "Igbin Orisa" (one scary looking snail like that) even periwinkle, "Ipere" all snails are marketable and they appreciate in size over several months.

My bro, start with whatever you have, rome was not built in a day! Even if its 1k you have, go to where snails are sold and buy the ones without broken shells. Ik should be able to buy 3-4 250g-450g weight snails, cover them with a basket and put stone on the basket.
Oooh laaalaaa, you have a pen already! Stop following all this scientific tins hook line ans sinker at least we were existing before the Oyibo bamboozzlement. Will oyibos be teaching us how to rear our own "African" snails again? ( Laughing) bros, go start something abeg!

Thank you bro. i av learnt alot about snail farming through you.
Actually i will soon start a grass cutter farming before the end of this year. i intend to start the two farming at thesame time i.e grass cutters and snails. i was doubtfull about the snail not untill you made so many revelation about it. thanx so much. Now i can kick start my farm with the two at the same time. i dont knw if you have any experience about grass cutters farming. pls you do share. in want to learnt from you.

@fursh

Thank you very much for your contributions.