By IPS Correspondents
ROME, Nov 15 1998 (IPS)

A rabbit can be more than just an Easter bunny and a pet for children. It holds significant potential to ease hunger and supply a modest income for impoverished rural families all over the world.

Some 800 million people are undernourished and , with poverty rampant in many regions, food production experts say “backyard” rabbit breeding particularly is suited to small farmers – providing work for all families to produce an income and upgrade their diets.

“Backyard rabbitries are the perfect answer to today’s demand for sustainable development projects,” says R. D. Branckaert, livestock production specialist with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Along with governments and non-governmental development organization, FAO has supported and developed rabbit projects in various parts of the world including Egypt, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, Mexico, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe and the Republic of Congo.

Now, in order to boost production and consumption in the Mediterranean area, FAO is supporting the creation of the International Observatory on Rabbit Breeding in the Mediterranean Basin countries. It has as partners, the World Rabbit Science Association (WRSA), and its Italian Branch (ASIC), the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies and the Italian Rabbit Producers Association.

Whether one likes – or eats – them or not, rabbits have specific characteristics that make them unique among small-animal husbandry for food and commerce, says Branckaert:

– They produce highly nutritious, low-fat, low-cholesterol meat rich in proteins and certain vitamins and minerals. The meat is also juicy, tender with a certain desired flavor to those who cherish rabbit meat;

– Being herbivores, they do not compete with humans for their food and are easily adaptable to different environments;

– Investment and labour costs are low and rabbits can be cared for by the most vulnerable family members; they are easy to transport and market for food, fur and skin;

– And they are highly productive, thanks to short gestation and lactation and great prolificacy (up to 40 offspring a year, compared to 0.8 and 1.4 for cattle or sheep).

Yet, as pointed out in a recent FAO-published book titled “The Rabbit: Husbandry, Health and Reproduction”, there are considerable constraints to widespread resort to rabbitry, including training for breeding and management, sudden diseases – and, above all, lingering customs that mock the rabbit and make its meat a taboo.

For instance, production in the Arab world is almost nil, except in Egypt and the Maghreb countries, although the Koran in no way prohibits rabbit meat. The Jewish faith bans it and the general ban on eating meat applies to rabbits in certain Hindu sects.

While generally accepted in Japan, it suffered from an old ban on eating meat from four-legged animals. When a Dutchman introduced rabbit meat to Japan in 1350, it was sold as chicken. People in Britain associate rabbit meat with memories of food shortages during World War II wartime and therefore it is generally spurned, says the FAO book.

It quotes the results of a survey which shows 30 percent of farmers believe social, religious or other reasons would prevent further development of rabbit as food.

“Rabbit meat consumption is much easier to develop where people are already used to eating widely different kinds of meat,” says the FAO publication. “This would generally be true of sub-Saharan Africa. People with monotonous diets will find it harder to accept this new product. The example of Mexico – with its traditional diet of maize and kidney beans – shows, however, that a well- planned development campaign can do much to promote the necessary change in eating habits.”

To some, however, rabbit meat is a delicacy. It yields the prized “lapin a la provencale” in France or “coniglio alla cacciatore” in Italy, with high per capita consumption distinctly Mediterranean (Malta with 8.89 kilos a year, Italy 5.71, Cyprus 4.37 and France 2.76). Officially, Italy leads global production with 300,000 tons a year followed by the Community of Independent States (former Soviet Union) with 250,000 and France 150,000 tons from a global total of 1,516,000 tons.

Although Chinese production is unknown, China represents the most important exporter. And, as a side-benefit to growers, rabbits offer raw skins for garments, linings and gloves in addition to wool and fur.

Despite present uncertainty, rabbits have a recorded history dating back to 1000 BC when Phoenicians are said to have discovered wild rabbits if southern Europe and North Africa. Romans spread them throughout their empire as a game animal and later monks ate them during Lent while in France, the consumption of rabbit meat became the sole right of the lord of the manor.

Rabbits became domesticated in the Middle Ages. Breeding began in Europe in the 16th century in Europe and eventually the animal was introduced to Australia and New Zealand through colonial expansion. It has since spread to the world and, if cultural and other constraints could be overcome, the rabbit may emerge as one in a series of low-cost answers to the problem of hunger, undernourishment and rural poverty.

Its future?

“The potential is there,” says FAO’s livestock expert Branckaert. “It needs better diffusion. And a bit of convincing. Rabbit is an example of how poor farmers can obtain protein and income with minimal investment.”

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