Former guard striving to meet demand for rabbit products

While growing up, Moses Mutua always knew he would become a soldier.

But the death of his father in 1999, who was the sole breadwinner, meant he could not join college.

After completing high school, he took up a job as a night guard in Nairobi’s Westlands.

“After acquiring my national ID, I secured a job at Wells Fargo, a security firm, as a security guard in 2002 guarding a bank in Westlands,” he says.

At the same time, he took up another job at a hotel in Kariobangi area because his pay as a guard was too little.

With two jobs, he was able to save money and enrolled for a sales and marketing course at Regional Institute of Professional Studies in Nairobi.

AGRI-BUSINESS

“I knew I did not stand a chance of being a soldier in the army. I decided to venture into agri-business after landing a sales job in Sagana.

My job entailed selling and servicing aquariums. After a while, I enrolled for a fish farming course offered by the company,” he recalls.

He later met Lydiah, a rabbit farmer in Rongai, Kajiado County.

Lydia, whom he met in church, inspired him to start rearing rabbits.

He borrowed a Sh24,000 loan from a friend to register a company that would deal with the construction and servicing of aquariums as well as constructing fish ponds for clients.

It is from the fund that he registered his own private company, Aqua Farm Consultants, presently known as The Rabbit Republic Limited.

As the founder of the fish firm, he worked as a consultant in ornamental fish production for about two years before rebranding the company.

BOUGHT SIX RABBITS

Mr Mutua later bought six rabbits from a farmer in Karatina.

“Between 2009 and 2010 I researched on commercial rabbit farming and its marketing before starting my own farm in Rongai towards the end of 2010. As we speak, I have more than 80 rabbit farms around East Africa,” said the father of two.

The Rabbit Republic Company head office is located at Chaka Court, Kilimani area, Nairobi.

The main farm is in Ongata Rongai with a capacity to hold over 4,000 rabbits and a slaughter capacity of one ton per day.

He says rabbit meat is one the best types of white meat because its protein is easily digestible and is cholesterol-free.

With over 700 contracted farmers across Kenya, Mr Mutua says, the company has a capacity of supplying four tons of meat per day.

“The company can comfortably produce four tons of meat per day, an equivalent of 2,000 rabbits. But we have the capacity to produce 20 tons of meat per day or an equivalent of 10,000 rabbits.

We are building a bigger farm on a one acre piece of land at Kamulu with a capacity to hold 50,000 rabbits,” said the enthusiastic rabbit products exporter.

EXPORT MARKETS

He says the company slaughtered the first batch last week and is awaiting approval from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) to supply to export markets in Angola and Congo.

To get rabbits to the company, he noted, they offer free transport to farmers by collecting mature rabbits from them in every rabbit village that has 100 farmers each.

At Rabbit Republic, interested farmers are trained on construction of hatches, breeding and disease management and are given technical support for the first one year of their five year contract.

According to him, a doe, (female rabbit), can produce at least 30 young ones in a year.

A five kilogrammes rabbit sells for Sh2,000 and a kilo of meat for at least Sh400.

A one month weaned rabbit, Mr Mutua says, fetches Sh1000 with every extra month increasing the value by Sh1000.

A mature four or five months rabbit goes for between Sh3,500 and Sh5,000 depending on the breed, health and the region of breeding.

ATTRACTIVE RETURNS

He says that the export market for rabbit products gives very attractive returns.

He also says that demand for rabbit skin is increasing in the international markets as the fur is being exported to America and Britain for colour tanning to make garments such as handbags and coats.

Currently, he says, Kenya does not have companies for rabbit skin tanning.

From March 5, 2013, he says, the company intends to start exporting 50,000 pieces of rabbit skin-products to a company in Germany with a piece fetching Sh300.

Mr Mutua also reveals the company makes money from training farmers.

Each trainee pays Sh2,000 which translates to Sh200,000 from the 100 farmers they train in a month.

But while rabbits are easy to maintain, they are delicate and need utmost care.

“We have over 3,000 breeder rabbits in our network of over 700 farmers.

Rearing a rabbit to maturity costs a mere Sh600 inclusive of feeds and disease management,” Mutua says.

We are introducing hydroponically grown feeds in order to cut down feeding costs by 75 per cent,” Mr Mutua says adding that this will help a farmer earn an additional net income of Sh7,000 per month.

Further, he adds, they have partnered with various financial and learning institutions like Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) through the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) for project funding.