Snail farming (heliciculture) is one of the booming business ideas in Africa. Snails nowadays are used in diets for nutritional purposes. In Lesotho, people are starting to farm snails and they sell them. If you are near Maseru, and you want to know how to start a profitable snail farming, this article is for you.

Many people suffer from skin diseases such as rash, acne and many other skin problems. Did you know that using snail products can help ease that skin problem? Stay with me to learn more on how the snail products work.

Because of the many minerals and vitamins found in snails, many people are delving into the snail farming business. As proof that this is a lucrative business idea, many people in Nigeria, in fact, in Africa have started taking part in this type of farming business. When I first heard of snail farming, it was on a smallstarter website. That was the first time I ever heard of such farming.

Before going any further, let me give you a glimpse of how this article is structured.

• Types of snails
• Health benefits of snails
• Which snail is best for farming?
• What is the best food for snails?
• How do you start a snail farm?
• Is snail farming Profitable?
• What are the disadvantages of snail farming?

What is Snail Farming?

Snail farming is the process of rearing snails with the purpose of selling them or using them for many nutritional or medicinal purposes.

Nowadays snails are used in dietary recipes, and they are used in cosmetics to deal with skin problems. If you can use a cosmetic which contains snails, your skin will benefit hugely. If you have acne, it can be reduced.

How many types of snails are there?

For you to start a successful snail farming near Maseru, or Lesotho, or anywhere around the world, you need to know as to how many species of snails are out there. You need to know which snail is right for medicinal purposes or for nutritional purposes.

Despite that, this section will also pin-point the most common species of the snails. 

23 Species of snails around the world

• Giant African Land Snail (Achatina fulica)
• Mediterranean Green Snail (Cantareus apertus)
• Roman Snail (Helix pomatia)
• White-lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
• Brown-lipped snail (Cepaea nemoralis)
• Garden Snail (Cornu aspersum)
• Milk Snail (Otala lactea)
• Apple Snails (Ampullariidae)
• Golden Apple Snail (Pomacea canaliculata)
• Mystery Snails (Pomacea bridgesii)
• Colombian Ramshorn Apple Snail (Marisa cornuarietis)
• Common Whelk (Buccinum undatum)
• Common Periwinkle Snail (Littorina littorea)
• Nerite Snails (Neritina natalensis)
• Assassin Snails (Clea helena)
• Rabbit Snails (Tylomelania)
• Pond Snails (Lymnaea stagnalis)
• Malaysian Trumpet Snails (Melanoides tuberculata)
• Candy Cane Snails (Liguus virgineus)
• Violet Sea Snails (Janthina janthina)
• Sea Butterflies (Thecosomata)
• Geography Cones (Conus geographus)
• Croatian Cave Snails (Zospeum tholussum)

Health benefits of eating snail meat in our diet

For you to start commercial snail farming, you need to know the health benefits we stand to gain while eating them or using products which are made up of them.

• It contains high levels of Selenium – The research indicates that selenium, just like tryptophan, is only found in food not within the human body; we need to eat food which is rich in it for our bodies to get it.  Selenium is responsible for boosting your immune system, it fights against cancer and many diseases which may attack the human body.

• It is rich in vitamins And Minerals

• Snail Meat And Water Prevent Stroke – the research shows that snail meat helps to prevent blood pressure which is one of the key causes of stroke. 

• Snail Has A High Phosphorus Content – Phosphorus helps filter out waste in the kidneys and plays an essential role in how the body stores and uses energy. It also helps reduce muscle pain after a workout.
• Snail Meat Is Very Low In Fat – This means that eating snail meat will help you to maintain your body weight. You cannot be obese while eating snail meat. For those of you who are struggling with big bodies, you need to change your diet to snail meat so that you can maintain your body weight.

• Contain High Magnesium Content – According to healthline.com, the health benefits of magnesium include reducing blood pressure, preventing sleeping disorders called insomnia. It is also responsible for mood improvement. It also reduces the migraine headache.

• It Prevents Cardio-vascular Diseases – One of the many benefits of eating snails and drinking their water is that it lowers blood pressure. Cardio-vascular diseases are diseases which affect the blood vessels, and the heart. 

• Snail meat contains Tryptophan

Tryptophan (Trp) is an amino acid that is essential to the human diet. Many people are unfamiliar with tryptophan, although it plays a vital function in regulating the body, particularly during sleep, pulse, and hunger. 

It also improves nitrogen balance in adults and baby development. Tryptophan also produces Niacin, which is required for the synthesis of the neurotransmitter serotonin.

Unfortunately, tryptophan and Selenium are mostly obtained from our food and are not primarily present in the body. Because of this, humans must consume snail meat to fulfill the body’s requirement for Tryptophan and Selenium.

• Rich In Protein
• Contains Low Calories
• Has a Low Cholesterol Content – cholesterol is a fat layer that is found in the lining of a human skin. High cholesterol results in obesity. If you want to lose weight, you should consider eating snail meat.

• Eating Snail Helps Human Nervous System To Function Properly

Snails for skin care

Snail farming in Ghana, Nigeria, Lesotho, and many other countries is done for the purposes of manufacturing skin products. Many companies make body lotions, facial skin care products using snails. 

What are the uses of snails for skincare?

• It helps to treat acne
• It helps to deal with rash
• It helps with oily skin

Which snail is best for farming?

Many people who are interested in commercial snail farming ask questions like the one in the title. To answer this question, I think the best option is to look around your surroundings and find the snail species that is available. Once you spotted which breed is available, you can start rearing that species. This is a good way to minimize your cost if you are a beginner and you don’t have enough money. For reference, you can get the types of snail in the above paragraphs.

What is the best food for snails?

According to wikiHow Staff, raw produce is the best food option for snails, as it contains the most nutrients and is easy to digest. Apple, aubergine, cucumber, carrot, tomatoes, and lettuce are cheap and easy options; however, any fruit and vegetables are fine.You can read the related article here from Keeping bugs.

This means that you can raise snails if you have a garden. You can grow vegetables to be snail food. Basotho like farming, and the above mentioned produce are found in most of the citizens of Lesotho. This therefore means that people from Lesotho can be successful if they rear snail for commercial farming. The good thing about snail is that it is all over the country, it won’t be a problem raising them.

How do you start a snail farm?

For a successful heliciculture or snail farming, you need to know which food is needed by snails, you also need to find the kind of environment snails love. You should make a research as to where you will fetch your snails from. Are you going to purchase them or you will go out there in the veld and fetch them or what?

These are the kind of things you have to put into consideration for your heliciculture to be successful. You also need to find the housing for them so that they won’t get out. You may fence the surface area where you are going to rear them in. For a full details on this topic of starting a snail farm, please read How to Snail Farm. You will find all the information you need to get started with heliciculture.

Is snail farming Profitable?

Heliciculture is one of the profitable business ideas a person can start. In the US, snail farming is valued at 1 billion Euros per annum. This shows how much potential this type of farming makes money. In africa, Nigeria is a leading country in heliciculture. Young entrepreneurs are all over Nigeria, and they are making money through it. Even in South Africa, there are many people who have already started venturing on this type of business idea.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of snail farming?

Advantages

1. Snail shells serves as calcium used for animal feeds
2. Snail rearing require little land or space.
3. Snail feeds are cheap and readily available.
4. Snail rearing in Nigeria is not capital intensive.
5. Snail rearing is easy to run.
6. Snail doesn’t require too much attention like other agricultural practices making it easy to run part time.
7. Snail farming requires little or no man power or labour.
8. Snail farming / snail rearing doesn’t constitute nuisance to the environment which is usually the case for other livestock farming in terms of noise and animal waste.
9. Quick growth, Snails are highly productive, can produce over 300 eggs at once.
10. Snail meat is rich in protein, to its low level of cholesterol and fat.
11. Snail rearing can easily be combined or incorporated with other farming practices.
12. Snails are basically harmless creatures.
13. Snail farming is a good source of income for the family.
14. Snails have Low mortality rate

Disadvantages

• Some people hate snail meat
• It is not easy to find market especially in countries where heliciculture is not yet common
• Snails grow slowly, so it may take some time to make money

Alright, we have officially reached the end of this article. I am sure you learnt many things in this article. I would like to know the snail species available in your area, and the type you would farm at your home. Oh please, don’t forget to share this article with your colleagues and friends. I would like to hear from you, so keep those comments coming. Until next time, ciao!