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    Farming could potentially earn you great income by understanding farming has it 

is. These are few points you must understand :-

1. Nigeria has a lot of farmlands which are very fertile.

2. The whole 70% of Nigeria's land is available for farming (LUA).

3. Nigerian government has successfully boost the production of food locally through banning of importation of foods from foreign countries.

4. Because of large population, Nigeria has ready made market in which any goods or product produced locally or brought into the country will be consumed.

5. Nigerian's are social, they hold a lot of activities, festivities, parties etc, therefore all these are needs to supply with foods.

6. Their are other countries that needs food I.e exportation.

These are the list of farming business in Nigeria :-

1. Fish farming business

2. Yam farming business

3. Plantain farming business

4. Poultry farming business

5. Vegetable farming business

6. Snail farming business

7. Cassava farming business

8. Sweet potatoes farming business

9. Sugarcane farming business

10. Rubber business

11. Palm oil farming business

12. Rice farming business

13. Corn farming business

14. Cowpea farming business

15. Sesame

16. Cashew

17. Cashew but

18. Millets

19. Pig farming business

20. Rabbit farming business

21. Cotton wool farming business.

22. Guinea pig farming etc.

ADVANTAGES OF STARTING FARMING BUSINESS IN NIGERIA.

1. Demand is too high for farming produce both in Nigeria and in abroad.

2. You can rent or purchase all necessary supplies and if you don't need it again, you can turn it into leasing business.

3. Farming can become your occupation i .e regular and reliable income.

4. The return is more than the hard work.

5. It not necessary you start with huge amount.

6. You can specialized.

- Rabbit are very small herbivores

- They convert vegetables to meat

- They convert green foods to flesh

- The average is 5kg

- It weight varies from 1kg-8kg

- They are commercial hybrids

Characteristics of a good rabbit for rearing

A good rabbit for rearing must have the following qualities,

1. it must be genderly identified

2. it must be healthy

3. it must be proficient

4. it must be strong

5. it must be able to grow fast and attain 1.8kg after 7 weeks

6. it must be of a good and healthy genetic history.

Housing and equipment

Rabbits are believed to be comfortable in a cool area. They don't like water lodged area, they must be protected from rain splash, drought and other unhabitable areas.

In housing Rabbit, all these must be considered :-

1. Ventilation :- easy entry and exit of air.

2. Disturbance (intruder or noise) :- rabbits hate seeing different faces around them, likewise they don't like noisy environment.

3. Pest :- rabbits housing and equipment must be pest free I.e solder ant, thermite e.t.c.

4. Rabbits must not stay too long under sun.

5. Sanitation :- rabbits house must not situated around refuse site or polluted area.

6. Space :- rabbit house must be spacious, such a way that it can accommodate an adult rabbit and 7 kids at a time.

7. Light :- shyness don't means they don't love light, in fact, they do well with light.

8. Equipment :- all the equipment use in rabbitry must be sanitized.

TYPES OF RABBIT HOUSING

1. caging

2. Hutches

3. Concrete floor

CONSTRUCTION

1. PEN :- This is when the hutch is been divided.

2. The hutch must be raised above the ground.

3. The hutch construction will be of wood and wire netting.

4. The dimension of the hutches are :-

- 60cm high

- 90cm long

- 60cm wide

- 90cm above the ground for good sanitation and ventilation.

FEEDING AND DRINKING EQUIPMENTS

1. Bamboo

2. Earthenware pot

3. Metal pot

4. Stainless pot with hook

NB:- since the rabbit likes playing with the pot, the pot must be heavy or hooked so as not to waste the food.

WHAT TO FEED YOUR RABBITS

1. HAY

2. water leaf

3. Tridax

4. Cabbage

5. Potato

6. Lettuce

7. Dry bread

8. Pelleted ratio

9. Clean freshwater

GENDER

Male rabbit - Buck

Female rabbit - Doe

BREEDING

In the process of Breeding, you must ensure the following:-

1. Your Buck must be of 10 months before breeding while your Does must be of 6 months before breeding.

2. The Doe must be taking into the Buck pen. This is done in the morning or late evening.

3. A mature and healthy Buck can serve about 10 to 15 Does.

4. Kindling occurs when rabbit give birth to young ones.

5. For safety purpose don't disturb the rabbit during kindling and weaning.

6. Don't rush to carry the baby immediately after birth, the rabbit may kill the baby.

7. For the adult Doe to have enough milk, it must be fed well.

8. Weaning is the time required for the Doe to nurse the baby.

9. It better to wait for 6weeks to start another breeding.

HOW TO KNOW A PREGNANT RABBIT

1. rate of water consumption increases.

2. The rabbit eating habit decreases.

3. They urine a lot.

4. They start showing altitude.

5. They are not active.

The only two ways to know that a rabbit is about to give birth is :-

1. They start to make nest from any available materials (hay)

2. They start to remove wool from their body.

DISEASE CONTROL

1. When rabbits itch and scratch their ear, use liquid paraffin on cotton wool to clean regularly.

2. Regular sanitation

3. Inspection

PURPOSE OF REARING RABBIT

1. DOMESTIC

2. COMMERCIAL

ADVANTAGES OF REARING RABBIT

1. Pet

2. Consumption (eating)

3. Art work :- shoe and bag from their skin.

4. Waste :- rabbit urine are best fertilizer.

5. Diet :- doctors recommend it for good health as it is white meat.

Introduction to maggot :-

   We all know that flies produce maggots and flies always prefers to lay their eggs on things that makes their offsprings to have access to rich and enough food. In which when the larvae hatch into Maggot ,they have enough to feast on, inside the dark shell ,they transformed from mushy mass to a fully formed insects and in a week or so ,the maggot will emerge from the pupal casing as hairy ,bug-eye flies and scamper off to mate. The easiest way for maggot to digest their food is the ability they have to secrete fluid containing digestive enzymes.

   There are many importance of maggot, but for the purpose of this article, I will be limiting it to the topic:-.

        MAKING MONEY FROM MAGGOT.

  Tiny fish like sardines,herring and others are being used to produced feeds that were been used to feed pigs, chicken, ducks,ostriches,Guinea fowl etc.
There is a survey that was carried out in south Africa recently that discouraged them from using fishmeal to prepare feed for livestock, this is so because if they continue to be harvesting fish from the sea ,in some few years to come ,fish may not be  available to harvest again. This lead to the discovery of the potentials of maggots.

ILLUSTRATIONS

IF you established a maggot farm, a female soldier flies lays about 700 eggs ,this produced an army of Hungry maggots that chop down corpses or rotten food waste, with their endless appetite, they are endless eaters ,and with time ,the maggots reach pupa stage and ready to be harvested and processed into feed meal for animals.
I want you to understand that maggots are rich in protein and less economical in feeding livestock. In South Africa ,the maggots business is helping In solving the problem of high cost of soybeans and fishmeal, so instead of incurring that huge cost in Nigeria, Nigeria entrepreneurs are investing in maggot feeds and they are making huge amount in it...

  I also want you to know that maggot business is not yet popular in Nigeria presently, that is why you should start now. For instance ,50kg bag of poultry feed may cost #8000 with production cost of #6500 ,which mean your profit is around #1500 but if it is maggots feed ,your production cost may be as low as nothing and your profit may be around #4000 on every 50kg..

     Therefore, any time you see maggot around wasting,remind yourself how much you can be generating from it. In next article, we will examine processing maggots for feedmeal
    

1, Intention :- you must have it in mind that you want to start maggot farming for a purpose either for a research or to generate income because this will determine your seriousness through out the process.

2, Housing :- you can use large plastic container or maggot cage, place the maggot cage outside your yard and place the rotten food / animal on the net above the cage ,in which the flies will locate it,feed on it and lay their egg on it. The eggs now later turn to maggot which will now be dropping into into the container inside the cage.

3, Harvest :- harvest any maggots you needed and move it to were it will be processed. Make sure you cover the remaining so as not to allow them to transform to flies

4, Recycling :- Don't worry as far as the maggot turns to adult flies, they will be producing more maggot and even ,some dead one will be feed by maggot again.

5, Drying :- After the maggot are dead ,collect it in a tray and place it inside a dryer or under the sun for it to dry. During this process make the maggot free of poisonous chemicals, add some flavors to give it good taste and smell.

6, Presentation :- After drying you can present it through bagging ,use of plastics etc. With you label tag if you like and it is ready to be taking to market.f