Economic analysis of snail production and its contribution to food security of farming households in Nigeria

The numerous resources in snail production have largely remained untapped in developing countries despite the increasing awareness of the many benefits and potentials embedded therein. This study was done to analyze the economics of snail production and to estimate its contribution to the food security of farming households in Oyo State, Nigeria. Primary data were obtained through the use of a structured questionnaire that was administered to the snail farmers. Based on the discovery of this work, the result shows that 39.2 % of the sampled farmers were within the active age bracket (41–50 years). 92.5 % of the farmers were males indicating men were actively involved. The majority of the farmers were literate with (83.3 %) having tertiary education. The mean farming experience was about 7 years with most of the farmers (47.5 %) having experience of 5–8 years. Most (86.7 %) of the respondents were married. The majority (40 %) engage in farming as an occupation primarily. The result showed that the returns to snail production were high (net profit ₦317.88/0.75 USD per jumbo-size snail). Every naira investment generated about ₦1.96/0.0046 USD. This demonstrated a high economic return of the snail farming business for boosting the revenue of the farming household. It was revealed that the cost of breeding stock, stocking density, and labour cost had a significant effect on revenue generated from snail production. Snail production was also not seen to have a significant contribution to the food security of farming households in the study area. The result further showed that the major constraints faced by snail farmers in the study area include lack of financial capacity for business expansion, unavailability of collaterals for loan acquisition to aid farm activities, and lack of inadequate extension visits among others. Hence, the study emphasizes the need for the government to invest heavily in snail production and encourage people to venture into snail farming business.