NALDA harvests 25,000 litres of urine from 5,000 rabbits for fertiliser in Imo

The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) said it has harvested 25,000 litres of urine from over 5000 rabbits that would be used as organic fertiliser for its farms.

This is just as it said it is also expecting to get 136,0000 rabbits from the 17000 shared among its farmers in a year, while the programme will be extended to five states.

The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne, revealed this in Owerri, Imo State, at the weekend during the unveiling of Rabbit Waste Organic Fertiliser harvested from rabbits in four pilot states in the country.

According to the CEO, the Authority is expected to harvest 2,142,000 litter of urine within a year.

“The rabbit rearing program was kick off about 3 months ago after Mr President flagged off National Young Farmers Scheme (NYFS) in November 2020. The pilot states for the program are Imo, Abia, Oyo and Cross River.

“As of today, NALDA has been able to harvest over 25,000 litres of urine from over 5,000 rabbit which is to serve as organic fertiliser to support NALDA young farmer’s in their various farms at zero cost.

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“All the NALDA farmers who do submit their urine to various collection centres are been paid to encourage them on the business viability of rabbit farm business, ‘Rabbit Urine as Organic fertiliser,” he said

Ikonne further said that according to the result analysis from the laboratory, the rabbit urine contains Nitrogen: 13.3 g/l; Chloride (Cl-): 5.87 g/l; Sodium (Na+): 3.17 g/l; Potassium (k+): 1.750 g/l; Inorganic sulfur (S): 0.163 g/l; Phosphate (P): 0.95 g/l; pH: 5:6

He said the program is designed to engage 17,000 young Nigerians in rabbit rearing, but as a result of learning points from the first pilot phase, NALDA has generated a deep insight into the dynamics of rabbit farming.

“It on this backdrop, that the program will be extended to other states and also increase the number of participants in the existing states,” he said.

Analysing the prospect Ikonne said: “With a total of five rabbits given to farmers on five per farmers bases, in three months, 85000 will be distributed, while 10 rabbits kits per rabbits per gestation period and 20 rabbits are expected to be recovered from each farmer within the same period amounting to 340,000 rabbits in three months, 680,000 in six months and 1,360,000 in a year.”

Also analysing the quantity of rabbits urine that will be produced during this period, the ES said “357,000 rabbits will produce 535,500 litres of urine fertiliser in three months, while in six months period 714,000 rabbits will produce 1,071,000 litres of urine fertiliser and 1,428,000 rabbits will produce 2,142,000 litres of urine fertiliser which will serve as organic fertiliser to support NALDA young farmer’s in their various farms at zero cost.”

Ikonne further said the Federal Government in its efforts to engage more youths in the agricultural value chain launched rabbit farming in November last year with Imo, Abia, Cross River and Oyo as pilot states for the programme.

He added that the rabbits were subsequently distributed to those who indicated an interest in the project to among other things harvest urine from these animals which have been found to be a rich source of organic fertiliser for rice and maize farming.

Ikonne described agro-business as a lucrative venture that requires patience, noting that the organic fertiliser would be distributed to farmers alongside spraying machines to increase their yield.

The Imo State Executive Coordinator NALDA, Mr Amanze Ofor, stated that about 108 youths were currently participating in the programme in the state, noting that the beneficiaries get paid immediately they turn in urine harvested from the rabbits.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE