ABSTRACT
The study examined the economics of snail production in Benin metropolis, Edo state, Nigeria. The socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, cost and returns of snail production in the study area, factors influencing profitability, and general constraints faced by snail producers in the study area, were the specific goals of this study. A two-staged sampling procedure was adopted, and as part of the procedure, snowballing technique was employed in locating and identifying snail farmers. Marketers at sales points, as well as the ADP also proved very useful in locating snail farmers. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics, budgetary techniques, and regression analysis. Findings from this study revealed that a majority (73%) of the respondents are within the economically vibrant age bracket of 25-45 years. About 61.67% of sampled respondents are males, while 38.33% are females, of which 63.33% are married, and 18.33% are unmarried. Majority (58.33%) have a household whose member size ranges from 4-8 persons. It was discovered that a majority of respondents (45%) have a snail farming experience of 5-10 years, which indicates that most of the farmers have been in business for a long time, therefore, they have considerable experience under their belt, and are most likely conversant of the problems of snail production in the study area. About 55 % practiced intensive system of rearing snails, while 35%, which was a majority, employed the use of a pen-housing system. The results indicated that snail production required relatively low capital investment, and was highly profitable, with a gross margin, and net income of NGN175,318.09 and NGN118,587.668 per farmer per cycle respectively. The results further showed that average selling price, and quantity sold were the significant factors affecting profitability. The R2 values of about 0.957 meant that 95% of the variations of the dependent variable were explained by the explanatory variables. Results gathered from this study indicated that high-cost of feed is the most recurring constraint faced by snail farmers in the study area. Other major constraints faced are inadequate land/space, low technical know-how, inadequate finance, high cost of labour, lack of storage facilities, incidence of pest/diseases, poor transportation network, low patronage, and pilfering /theft. The study concluded that snail farming in the study area is a profitable enterprise, with low cost of entry, relatively less demanding production practices and can be more profitable if the farmer employs more efficient techniques in production, so as to increase the number of snails produced. Therefore the study recommends that low income households and youths be encouraged to go into snail production.
