Haryana Based Rabbit Farmer Playing the Role of Real Life Magician by Empowering More Than 700 Farmers with the Knowledge of Rabbitary

Rajesh Kumar is a real-life magician farmer from Haryana, for whom pulling bunnies out of the hat is the main source of income for livelihood. Don’t be amazed! Here we are talking about rabbit farming.

Rabbit farming is a field about which either most of the farmers are unaware or uninterested. But, in the present time, rabbit farming is a profitable source of income and in the future also it can fetch good revenue.

In the year of 1977, there was an initiative taken by the central government towards rabbit farming. A project was started by the government to support rabbit farming in India, in which they use to fund farmers, to begin with, 10 units (1 unit include 70 females and 30 males) of rabbits for their farming. But this project was not that successful and was soon closed down. But this was not the doom of rabbit farming. In 2007, many private rabbit farming firms were opened after some time that started following the same guidelines of the project started by the government earlier, and Paradise Rabbit Farm owned by Rajesh Kumar was also one of them.

In 2007, Rajesh Kumar visited CSWRI (Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute) in Avikanagar, Tonk (Rajasthan) where he first got the exposure towards rabbit farming. He was so much fascinated by rabbit farming that he decided to invest in this venture. Now it’s been 11 years since he is successfully pursuing rabbit farming.

And that is not all!

Rajesh Kumar has expanded his rabbit farming contract business all over India (covered almost all the states). Under his contract business, he provides 10 units of rabbits to the farmer and also gives complete training to take care of the rabbits. He also provides transportation for the delivery and collection process of rabbits from the farmer’s farm.

Rajesh- “Rabbit business is mostly adopted by small farmers, so basically rabbit farming is done where there are small farmers. Currently, I am doing contract farming with more than 700 farms, located all over India.”

How Rajesh Kumar made marketing easier for other rabbit farmers….

Rajesh Kumar has done one more advantageous thing for the farmers who started rabbit farming through him and that is marketing. The purchasing price of the rabbits back from the farmers is decided in the beginning and after every year there is 10% increase in the price of the rabbit. Moreover, he has made marketing easier for the farmers, because when the rabbits get mature for selling purpose, then Mr. Kumar send his own vehicle to collect the rabbits from their farms. There is only one condition that every farmer has to follow and that is investing in 10 or more units of rabbits in the beginning to get free transportation of the rabbits. The farmers who invest in fewer rabbits (less than 10 units) they have to use their own transportation for rabbit delivery.

Some basic stats about rabbit farming that Mr. Kumar shared…

• Female gets pregnant maximum 6 to 7 times in a year
• From one pregnancy a doe can give birth to minimum 1 baby and maximum 14
• Pregnancy period of a doe is 30 days
• If the litter size is increased, then chances are there that weak babies will be born. So on an average, we can say that 5 average babies survive per doe.
• In case a doe has given birth to more than 5 babies then the farmer has to shift some of the babies to another doe to provide complete nutrition to the babies.
• A baby rabbit gets ready for selling purpose in 3 months if the proper feed is given.
• Newborn babies open their eyes in 12-14 days
• Weight ranges between 1.45 kg to 2 kg depending on the feed.
• Rabbits are used for meat purpose and for making vaccination for swine fever in piggeries

Rajesh says- “Farmer should try to get their female rabbit 8 times pregnant in a year to earn good profit.”

How Rajesh Kumar prepares feed for rabbits…

In India, there is no specific feed company for rabbits, because rabbits consume less amount of feed. So, Rajesh Kumar prepares rabbit feed at home.

Ingredients of Dry Feed- Maize, Wheat, Soybeans granules, Choker, Rice Bran for fat, Salt, Mineral Mixture.

This feed changes according to the area.

During June, July and August moisture content is very high in the atmosphere, so farmers should make only 100 kg feed according to 10 units of rabbits. Because rabbits fell sick by eating bad feed. Rabbits are just like humans and they should be taken care very carefully. Although there is no specific vaccination for rabbits, if the rabbit has caught some disease then Rajesh Kumar assist the farmers with its medications.

Currently, Rajesh Kumar is living with his mother, father, wife, two sisters, two brothers and his son in his hometown Dhatrath, district Jind (Haryana). His brother Parveen Kumar help him in his rabbit farming venture. His monthly income from rabbit farming is Rs. 30 to 40, 000.

Awards & Achievements:

• 3rd award in best rabbit competition at Pant Nagar
• Certified by Haryana Government
• Registered with CPCSEA (Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals) in 2016

Future plan: He wants to expand and expose his rabbit farming contract business to more farmers in India.

Message

“Rabbit farming is a profitable venture because it needs less investment and more profit. Small-scale farmers who have less land can invest in this venture and gain good profit out of it.”

Details of contract rabbit farming provided by Rajesh Kumar

Rajesh Kumar provides 2 days full training for rabbit farming in batches. Training includes vaccination, medication, checking pregnancy, taking care. If any farmer is interested in doing rabbit farming then minimum 3 lakh rupees is required for the investment in 10 units of rabbit and for shed 1 lakh rupees. In India, most founded breeds of rabbits are Angora (in cold region), Chinchilla, Grey Giant, Newzealand White, and Dutch Half Black-Half White.

Rajesh Kumar also has an office in Kurukshetra from where he manages all the official work of his farm.

Rajesh Kumar as being a B.Sc. Graduate in Multimedia Animation proved that rabbit farming is a field which any person can adopt and continue successfully with little guidance and training. Although he could have chosen the field of Multimedia Animation, but he chose his real interest to pursue in the future.