Introduction to Snail Farming: Before the discovery of crude oil in 1956, Agriculture was the mainstay of our dear country Nigeria and our country was known for the export of agricultural produce to neighboring countries. Unfortunately, agriculture has been relegated to the background hence the reason our GDP is dropping by the day. No sane country uses her money to import what it has in abundance, the government of the day is not seeing anything wrong with this. Nigeria is a green nation abundantly blessed with good soil and temperature for farming but we have abandoned agriculture for oil. If we must progress as a nation, then we must go back to the farm and improve on it. With good practices and modern farming types of equipment available, we can produce enough food for the country and export to other countries. Snail farming, pig farming, fish and poultry farming are viable areas to look into

Why is Snail Meat Unique?
Snail meat popularly referred to as “Congo meat” in local parlance is consumed in many countries of the world. In some countries, however, snails are considered a delicacy for the rich only because of its nutritional and medicinal benefits.

According to Wikipedia, Snail meat simply known as escargot is popular meat of many Nigerians in the rural areas especially in the rain forest belt, where it is picked from the wild by children and women. When we were younger, we could go to the farm and find hundreds of snails clustered around our farm hut and these served good delicacies for us. Today, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see snails as we used to see them around houses and farms, therefore there is an urgent need for many more people to be involved in snail farming.

The potentials for its domestication and commercialization in the country has not been fully harnessed or exploited, although many studies and experience have shown that snails Farming is highly profitable and productive if well managed with good snail farming equipment and techniques.

Nutritional Components of a Snail

Snails meat is high in protein (12 – 16%) and Iron (45 – 50%), low in fat (0.5 – 0.08%) and contains almost all the amino acids needed by man, being also rich in vitamins. Apart from the nutritional benefits, it is also known to have medicinal and cosmetic values hence the reason it is being sought for by pharmaceutical and cosmetic firms around the world.

In Nigeria, from the rural perspective snails have become an income earner to the rural dwellers who are making a living from picking snails from the wild (Rain forest) and gathering to sell in the markets and roadside. They usually collect snails in the raining season when snails are mostly found.

Reasons for Snail Farming?

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