Young farmers use rabbit urine to start fertiliser venture

Joel Kimetto collects 10 litres of rabbit urine per day.

By Nikko Tanui

Kenya: For a long time, the benefits of nutrient-rich rabbit urine went unrecognised.

No, not for drinking, but for making fertiliser.

In South Rift, where rabbit keeping has long been considered a childhood activity, more farmers are embracing rabbit keeping largely for urine tapping.

In Chegongwo Village, Bomet County, a group of rabbit keepers  are in the final stages of setting up a manufacturing factory for foliar fertiliser — which is any fertilising substance applied in liquid form.

Mr Paul Kirui, the director of the group dubbed the Kenya Commercial Rabbit Consortium, says they began the rabbit keeping venture after reading books and articles on the fertilising potential in rabbit urine as well as attending seminars on the subject.

Mr Kirui says the project had gained the interest of several residents of Chegongwo, but many of them backtracked after they heard there would be a Sh10,000 registration fee.

“Some villagers developed cold feet at the mention of the amount for fear that they would lose their hard-earned money on another fancy project that would prove to not be viable in the long run,” Kirui says.

But a couple of villagers were undeterred by the amount and the group of 20 villagers pooled their resources to start a cottage industry — Chongenwo Cottage Industry.

It involves biological fixation of rabbit urine to produce foliar fertiliser.

Kirui says after seeing the success of the pilot, more villagers joined the group, and they are now at 100 members.

Progress

With a few weeks left to the planned opening of the factory, which will help the farmers package and sell the foliar fertiliser, the group has already collected more than 2,500 litres of urine ready for processing.

“In biological nitrogen fixation, the rabbit urine is poured into a large container and compost added into it and it is left to soak for 21 days.

“A sample has been taken for testing in a Government laboratory in Ruiru. If the State certifies that it contains all the elements needed for a fertiliser, we will embark on the second stage of branding and packaging and hit the market,” Kirui says.

They plan to sell the fertiliser through local agrovet shops, where a litre of foliar fertiliser fetches Sh1,200.

“After a farmer subtracts the all the expenses of collecting the rabbit urine, he or she will be left with between Sh600-700 in profit,” Kirui says.

Rabbit prices range from Sh250 to Sh300. The most popular breads in the country include Chilchila, Tan, New Zealand and California.

Rabbits generally multiply very fast. A female rabbit, doe, has the potential to give birth to an average of 40-50 kits a year.

“A rabbits take an average of six months to mature. To keep strong and healthy animals, a rabbit keeper should prevent in-breeding,” Kirui says.

Easy to keep

He points out that rabbits are some of the easiest domestic animals to keep since they eat cheap feed, including maize stalks, cabbage and napier grass.

“Occasionally, a farmer can buy the rabbits pellets for feed. They will also need to be dewormed and a farmer must keep some antibiotics incase the rabbits get constipated or accidentally nibble on a poisonous plant,” Kirui says.

Mr Joel Kimetto, who is part of the cottage industry, keeps 60 rabbits up from the initial 10 he started with two months ago.

“I collect about 10 litres of rabbit urine a day and I have since collected about 600 litres in just under two months,” Kimetto says.

He adds that he has also collected over two bags of rabbit manure, which he intends to use on his vegetable garden.

Mr Kimetto warns farmers against using rabbit urine directly on plants, saying it is rich in ammonia and risks “burning” crops.

He adds that apart from keeping the rabbits for the purpose of collecting manure, he also keeps them for meat.

“To really enjoy rabbit meat, after a rabbit is slaughtered, it has to be hung for a day to dry after which the meat is fried to be tastier,” Kimetto says.

The famers tap rabbit urine by building several decks of cages separated at the bottom by a thick polythene paper. At the side of the cages, there are gutters that collect the flowing urine and direct it to containers at the bottom of the cages.

Once a container is full, it is taken out for storage and a new one brought, and the process is repeated.

One rabbit ordinarily produces 250ml of urine daily. Therefore, with at least five rabbits, a farmer can tap a litre of rabbit urine a day.

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