Food Flows at the Community Level: Examining the Market Potential of Rabbits and Cane Rats and Impli

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Food Flows at the Community Level Examining the
Market Potential of Rabbits and Cane Rats and
Implications for Poverty Alleviation and Food
Security

• Ajuruchukwu Obi
• John Bashi
• and
• Milton Tshilamatanda
• Herman van Schalkwyk
• Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences,
• University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South
  Africa

The International Food Agribusiness Management
Association World Food Agribusiness Symposium
on Re-inventing the Food Chain New Markets,
Customers, and Products, Chicago, Illinois, USA,
25-28 June, 2005
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Outline

• Introduction
• Global Demand for Animal Products
• The Place of Bushmeat (Unconventional Livestock)
• Market Potential for Rabbit Meat
• Market Potential for Cane Rat Meat
• The Supply Chains
• Conclusions

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Introduction

• African diets on aggregate continue to show gross
  deficiencies in proteins, despite global
  increases in demand for meat products.
  
• Incomes remain low across the continent.
• In South Africa,
• High unemployment rates prevail at over 40
• About 48.5 of population live below poverty
  line
  
• Communal Areas of SA similar to conditions
  elsewhere in Africa
  
• Protein Energy Malnutrition and chronic
  undernourishment are at disturbingly high
  levels.
  
• About 2.3m people, comprising children under the
  age of 12yrs, and pregnant and lactating mothers
  (87 of whom are blacks) are malnourished
  (AgriReview, 1997)

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Food insecurity (undernourishment)
in Sub-Saharan Africa
Millions
Percent
250
40

Number
Proportion

35


200

30
194
184
25
150
165
168

20
125
100
15

88
10
50
5
0
0
1969-71
1979-81
1990-92
1997-99
2015
2030
Source FAO (2001), IFPRI (2001)
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Prevalence of child malnutrition in Sub-Saharan
Africa
Millions
Percent
35
40
Number
33
30
Proportion
31

35

25
26
24

20


20
30

19
19


15
10
25
5
0
20
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
1997
Source FAO (2001) IFPRI (2001)
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Per capita demand, 1997 and 2020
(in kilogram per capita)
SSA
LDCs
Meat
1997
9.8
24.6
2020
11.7
34.9
Cereals
1997
147.1
248.9
2020
162.6
274.8
Roots and tubers
1997
249.6
100.2
2020
262.7
114.4
Source Rosegrant et al. (2001) IFPRI (2001)
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Livestock and Livelihoods

• Meat from non-domesticated animals, or bushmeat,
  constitutes an important element of the foods
  consumed in many societies today.
  
• In Africa, the use of non-domesticated or wild
  animals as food is well-documented for West
  Africa.
  
• But in other parts of Africa, such as the
  Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), (in Southern
  Africa), bushmeat is growing in importance.
  
• In general, bushmeat is used by households either
  as a source of food, or as a source of income.

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Livestock and Livelihoods

• Limited evidence from DRC suggests that its
  income value may be more important than its food
  value.
  
• The links between poverty and bushmeat are still
  not clear, but human actions that affect the
  sustainability of natural resources will
  ultimately have implications for poverty
  reduction and sustainable livelihoods.
• As a result, conservation policies often take
  into account the exploitation, trade and
  consumption of bushmeat.
  
• To that extent, the concerns of both development
  specialists and environmentalists, especially
  conservationists, interlock.
  
• But conflicts of interest often arise due to
  divergent views and needs of local communities
  and authorities who manage wildlife as part of
  conservation programmes.

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Justification

• Need to explore low-cost investment possibilities
  suited to circumstances of resource-poor
  farmers.
  
• Growing interest in food safety.
• Strategically, important to explore alternatives
  to beef, mutton, chicken and other conventional
  animal protein sources especially given that SA
  is net importer of meat.
• Current policies to address rural poverty and
  food insecurity dwell on conventional food
  sources.

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RABBIT MEAT
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RABBIT MEAT PRODUCTION
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Nutritional value of rabbit meat other common
meats
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Attributes of Rabbit

• Producing rabbit is cost-effective Rabbit has
  the potential to convert waste food into meat.
  
• Can produce 2.7kgs of meat when fed with the same
  quantity of H2O feeds needed by a cow to
  produce 0.5kg of meat (Ardeng, 1999).
  
• Can reproduce faster than pigs, goats and sheep
  (Adjare, 1984).
  
• A doe has the potential to deliver 6 litters in a
  year and 8 bunnies within a litter (i.e. 48
  bunnies a year) (Du plessis, 2000).
  
• Rabbit excretory can be used as manure and fur
  for clothes.

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Methodology

• Taste quality of meat was evaluated using the
  preference ranking developed by Basker (1988).
  
• It is essential to most food experiments because
  it answers important questions of how food looks,
  smells, feels and tastes (Campbell et al, 1987).
  
• Blind Tasting was performed at room temp.
  (20-22C) in individual booths under red lights
  in the Sensory Evaluation Laboratory.

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Material and Procedure

• 4 Meat samples chicken, beef, mutton rabbit
  were evaluated by the panelists
  
• Samples were coded using 3 digit numbers picked
  from a table of random numbers
  
• Panelists assigned ranks by using a scale of 1-4,
  where 1 represented the most preferred and 4 the
  least preferred sample
  

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Material and Procedure (Continued)

• No ties were allowed, i.e. no two samples could
  be awarded the same numerical value
  
• Tap water at room temp was provided to the
  panelists to rinse their mouths while tasting
  between samples
  

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Characteristics Of Panelist

• 86 persons, drawn from Black (African), White,
  and Coloured populations, participated in a blind
  tasting procedure
  
• ARC (1995) recommends sample size of 50-100
  panelists for reliable results
  
• Comprised 28 students and 58 staff members
• 27 of the panelists were male 59 female.

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Results(Ranking of livestock meat)
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Results (Continued)

• No product was significantly highly preferred
  over the other since all the rank sum differences
  were lower than the critical values at both P
  0.05 and P 0.01 level of significance.
• This could be attributed to the tasting panel
  from broad socio-economic background while most
  were familiar with 3 meat types tasted, some were
  familiar with all 4 meat types.
• Again this could be attributed to the flavour of
  the main product which was acceptable to the
  panelists.

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CANE RAT(GRASSCUTTER) Thryonomys swinderianus
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Attributes of the Cane Rat

• A bush/wild animal, also known as grass-cutter
  because of its herbivorous feeding habits.
  
• A monogastric herbivore.
• Feeds on green forage, hay, grains, water,
  agro-industrial by-products.
  
• On average, weighs 1.8-2.5kg (a giant cane rat
  can weigh 6-10 kg.).
  
• Easy to feed in captivity, but obviously a less
  economical feeder (wastes a lot of food).
  
• Has good reproductive performance up to 2
  litters per year, mean litter size of 4
  offspring, and fertile lifespan of up to 15
  years.

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Attributes of the Cane Rat

• The meat of the cane rat is much relished in West
  and Central Africa (Martin, 1985 Shwarzenberg,
  Stier, Bessi Gall, 1993 Stier, Mensah Gall,
  1994).
• One of the few animal species not associated with
  any taboos (Ajayi, 1974 and 1978 Cooper, 1995).
  
• The meat is a prime choice among game species
  (Den Hartog and De Vos, 1973 Van de Velde,
  1991).
  
• Grass-cutter meat is an expensive dish in African
  urban restaurants (Keyle, 1987).

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Cane Rat Production and Trade

• Information is available for West and Central
  Africa.
  
• Overall, estimated annual production in West
  Africa is 80 million cane rats equivalent to
  30,000 metric tons of meat.
  
• About half of this quantity is traded annually,
  generating cash income estimated at US1,103
  million.
  
• Despite the high degree of exploitation, cane
  rats are not considered an endangered species,
  and there is little restriction on their
  harvesting.
• They are well adapted to newly forested areas and
  can thrive on food and industrial crops.
  
• They also do well in secondary savannahs
  resulting from deforestation.
  

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Research in Limpopo Province of South Africa

• Six Service Centres selected in the Thohoyandou
  sub-region
  
• Tshiombo
• Sibasa
• Damani
• Tshitereke
• Ramasaga
• Mutoti
• 200 household interviews.
• Sensory taste analysis planned.
• Situation survey completed to obtain preliminary
  basis for sampling.

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Results of Situation Survey

• Issues investigated include
• Level of awareness about the use of cane rats as
  meat
  
• Level of preference for cane rat meat to other
  meat types available to the community
  
• Factors determining choice of cane rat meat over
  other meat types available to the community
  
• Methods of obtaining cane rat for meat
• Willingness to pay for cane rat meat.

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Awareness of the Food and Nutritional Value of
Cane Rats

• Five different questions were asked
• Question 1 white meat, palatable, low in
  cholesterol
  
• Question 2 low fat but high protein meat
• Question 3 good for heart disease patients
  because of low sodium,
  
• Question 4 recommended for coronary conditions
• Question 5 excretory matter good for vegetable
  growing

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Meat Preference Patterns

• Six most common meat types consumed in the area
• Considerations were given to both availability
  and preference
  
• Despite being the least available, cane rats were
  preferred by about 10 of the respondents.

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Factors Influencing Meat Consumption in the
Thohoyandou Sub-Region.
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The supply chain
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Commercial hunter
Farmer hunter
Bush meat Market
Urban retailer
Urban Restaurant
Household/Consumer
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Conclusion

• There is some awareness about the food and
  nutritional value of the meat of rabbits and cane
  rats.
  
• There are currently no official policies to
  promote their consumption/use or otherwise.
  
• The findings with respect to preference patterns
  suggest that rabbit and cane rat meat are not
  seriously discriminated against by consumers.
  
• This means that there are great opportunities to
  develop the market for cane rats and rabbit meat
  in South Africa.
  
• However, widespread acceptance of rabbit and cane
  rat meat will be hampered by lack of knowledge
  about their numerous production, income and
  nutritional advantages.