Bountiful Bunny

“Rabbit farming as a technique had been fully legalised in the year 1960 by the government. Infact farmers from the border states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have been practicing these techniques for years now. In the late 80’s,companies that dealt with rabbits approached farmers in Maharashtra and promised them huge returns on investing in this type of farming. They even gave rabbits to the farmers at subsidised rates. Ironically these rabbits were the ones,which were nearing the end of their ability to give birth to their progeny. As a result the farmers suffered huge losses. Infact even we as an organisation have begun functioning only about one and a half year back.”

“From teaching how to take care of the rabbits and giving them timely vaccinations,to educating the farmers on the way to take care of the new born — they are given free precision training at the institute. They can also practice here to gain confidence,” he adds.

A farmer can purchase as many units as he can afford. One unit varies between having a minimum of six rabbits to a maximum of 20. The cost varies similarly between a Rs 13000 to Rs 30000. Also the rabbits which are sold are ready for breeding and if they are crossed within 30 days the first generation of rabbits are born,and within four months they are ready to be bought back to the institute.

“In the mid 90’s the price of the rabbit meat had fallen drastically owing to the reluctance of farmers to adapt to this technique. However now the price of a kilo of rabbit meat varies in between Rs 200-300 per kilo,” says Khatke.

Atul Shinde,a farmer who has been practicing the technique says,“Initially we were very skeptical,but slowly we began getting high returns so we expanded the business. It might be hard to believe but from a unit of 20 rabbits a farmer can easily earn anywhere in between Rs 1.5 lakhs to Rs 2.5 lakhs.”

“We wish to take this technique to the farmers in the Vidarbha and Marathwada region as the conditions there are bad. Owing to the unsure nature of the crops they are debt stricken and commit suicides. We have special schemes for the farmers of this region like,interest wavier,paying the amount in installments and also a full buy back scheme in case of failure. I can say with some surety that if the techniques are followed properly that the rate of failure is very low,” says Khatke.