How few bunnies dug me out of a financial rabbit hole

Resilience and passion are two qualities that best describe Maureen Wanyaga’s  quest for a successful rabbit business.

Against many odds, Ms Wanyaga, 29, established her rabbit farming business, in Kawaha Sukari Estate, Nairobi County in 2015.

She has suffered devastating losses forcing her to shift her business from Nairobi to Muthinga village in Nyeri County, where she is slowly creating a small rabbit revolution.

From 6 rabbits, she now has 900 bunnies and a market to boot. However Maureen’s journey into rabbit farming started in tragedy when she lost both her parents in a horrific road accident in which she miraculously escaped unscathed.

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New reality

Her life and that of her two siblings changed drastically and they were forced to come to terms with a new reality of fending for themselves.

“We were taken in by my relatives who used to eat rabbit meat once a week and this made me develop a deep interest in the animals,” she explains.

Through funds from well-wishers, she completed her high school education and joined Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in 2009 for a diploma in Business administration and later on a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Human Resources.

Ever the hustler, she did several odd jobs — from boda boda to hawking— to save a coin her and there as she searched for job in vain.

To make enough for pocket money and essential items, she started to sell lollipops while in high school and by the time she joined university she had saved Sh20,000. However with no extra money to support herself, she decided to venture into agribusiness.

She reached out to a cousin who lent her Sh50,000 which she added to her savings and bought a motorbike.

“I used to earn Sh300 per day and in two years I had bought a second motorbike and paid back the loan. I started saving in third year and by the time I graduated I had Sh50,000 in my account,” Maureen recalls.

After unsuccessfully job hunting for eight months she changed tack.

Job hunting

“I decided to try my hand at rabbit farming,” she says.

She started with five rabbits and a loan from her sister of Sh200,000 which she used to buy building materials for the hatches.

The breeds are New Zealand, California White, Dutch, Flemish Giant, Checkered and Palominos.

After one year, the cost of doing business in Nairobi and lack of space for her rabbits forced her to relocate to Nyeri County on her parents’ farm.

The move was tough for the young farmer, without hatches for the rabbits she let them roam the yard for the first night, only for them to fall victim to a mongoose that killed several.

“When I woke up in the morning and saw the dead rabbits I was devastated. I requested my neighbours help to move my rabbits into the house I lived and for six months that was their temporary home,” Maureen says.

Rabbit urine as pesticide

By 2017, she had made enough money to build enough cages for the rabbits outside the house by selling urine, manure and rabbit meat.

With majority neighbours growing coffee and tea on their farms, she encouraged them to try the rabbit manure to enrich soils and urine as a pesticide. She sells a kilo of rabbit eat at Sh1,000 and a live rabbit between Sh3,000 to Sh5,000.

To secure a market, she gave them free rabbit meat to entice them and become regular customers. When they realised it was sweet, they became loyal clients.

Due to a change in climate she lost half of the fluffle which suffered respiratory diseases.

Hardy by nature, the bunnies bounced back.

“Luckily, the rabbits are prolific breeders and once settled in their cages, they recovered their numbers fairly quickly,” she says.

Slowly she increased her numbers and now she has 950 rabbits of various ages.

She has employed two farm hands who help her maintain a strict feeding and breeding schedule.

“Every morning, the cages are cleaned and the floor of the room where the cages are kept disinfected with agricultural lime to keep parasites at bay and keep the strong smell ammonia from rabbits at bay,” Maureen points out.

Each day, the rabbits are fed with 75 grams of rabbit pellets, water and hay. The rabbits consume 300 litres of water per day and 50kgs of feeds.

Tricks of game

To stay afloat, record keeping is a key part of her business with careful documentation of births, medication, breeding and parentage to avoid inbreeding and ensure the bunnies are vaccinated on time.

Despite the strides she has made in hacking the market, hurdles remain.

The rabbit structure has lack of proper ventilation, due to the manner in which the rabbit cages were set up, and the earthen floors get wet and attract bacteria which compromises on the animal’s health.

The cost of feeds has also been a challenge.

“When I started out, a 50kg bag of rabbit pellets cost Sh1,900 but now it goes for Sh2,300,” she says.

She also lacks access to regular water supply which the bunnies need to thrive.

“While I had a challenge establishing a market for my rabbit meat, I have realised that my fluffle cannot satisfy the demand in the market which is high. Without adequate investment to expand my business it is not possible to grow,” she says.

She always gets inquiries from those interested in rabbit keeping. What does she tell them?

“You must be patient in this business, because the market is relatively new and you must build a client base slowly also you will experience losses that can easily discourage you,” she advises.

She also dismisses the belief that raising bunnies can be done with little or no information as most people do when it is a hobby.

“To succeed in rabbit farming, you need information on the rabbits, their health and needs. You must be dedicated because they require special care,” she says.

Having broken even, her goal now is to expand the business so that she can enjoy benefits of economies of scale.

Towards this path, she is also seeking new investors to achieve that financial goal.

“There are days I get orders in thousands and I have to turn it down because I lack the numbers and capacity. But I believe if I had like 10,000 bunnies I would make more profit and create jobs for more graduates like me.”