RABBIT FARMING IN MALAYSIA: PERSPECTIVE AND ROLES OF MARBA

Aisyaturridha Abdullah

Co-founder Goodtree Garden Rabbit Farm

Vice President, Malaysian Rabbit Breeders Association (MARBA)

RABBIT PRODUCTION GLOBALLY

• The global rabbit meat market revenue amounted to $6.4 billion in 2017, picking up by 12% against

the previous year.

• Benefit/Cost ratio varies from 1.1 – -3.4, depending on the system and scale of farming, which varies

from 5 to 500 does.

• The market value increased an average annual rate of +4.0% from 2007 to 2017.

• Global rabbit meat consumption peaked in 2017, and is expected to retain its growth in the

immediate term.

• According to New Food Magazine 2019, the amount of rabbit or hare meat consumed worldwide

totalled 1.5 million tonnes in 2017, picking up by 2.9% against the previous year.

• The total consumption volume increased an average annual rate of +2.8% from 2007 to 2017.

(Market Research Firm IndexBox, 2019)

RABBIT PRODUCTION GLOBALLY

• Driven by increasing demand for rabbit meat worldwide, the market is expected to

continue an upward consumption trend over the next decade.

• Market performance is forecast to retain its current trend pattern, expanding with an

anticipated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of +2.3% for the eight-year period

from 2017 to 2025, which is projected to bring the market volume to 1.8 million tonnes by

the end of 2025.

• Over the period under review, the global rabbit meat production reached its peak figure

volume in 2017 and is likely to see steady growth in the near future.

• The generally positive trend in terms of rabbit meat output was largely conditioned by a

moderate increase in the number of producing animals and slight growth in yield figures.

• (Market Research Firm IndexBox, 2019)

RABBIT PRODUCTION GLOBALLY

• The country with the largest volume of rabbit meat production was China (932K

tonnes), accounting for 63% of total production.

• Moreover, rabbit meat production in China exceeded the figures recorded by the

world’s second largest producer, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (154K

tonnes), sixfold.

• Spain (57K tonnes) ranked third in terms of total production with a 3.9% share.

• From 2007 to 2017, the average annual rate of growth in terms of volume in China

amounted to +4.5%.

• In the other countries, the average annual rates were as follows: Democratic People’s

Republic of Korea (+3.3% per year) and Spain (-2.6% per year).

• (Market Research Firm IndexBox, 2019)

(Raharjo, 2016)

Rabbit Production

in Asian Countries

RABBIT PRODUCTION IN MALAYSIA

• Malaysia rabbit production was a top down project by government of Malaysia in late

80s

• It’s been reported that rabbit produced in Malaysia been exported to Australia in the

90s

• The project we considered “failed” because the market is not ready for rabbit meat

• Lack of technical preparation of the farmers (Ab. Kemelthani, 2018)

• We do not have recent studies and accurate data on rabbit farming in Malaysia

• From our latest survey, we have more than 50 rabbit breeders who registered with

MARBA to date

MALAYSIA RABBIT FARMING

• Estimated more than 300 farmers with 30-100 female rabbit in Malaysia

• More than 500 backyard breeders who breed rabbit for meat and/or pets

• Among them less than 50 farmers with semi-commercial capacity – more than 200

female rabbit

• Market worth – more than RM25 mil a year - Increase at least ±7% in demand every

year

• At the moment, the local market is growing and demanding greater rate than export

markets.

• If it continues to develop in this way, it’s likely there won’t be enough rabbits in

Malaysia to meet demand in the next 20 years

• (MARBA,2018)

Average of Rabbit Production in Malaysia

(Raharjo, 2016)

CURRENT MARKET

• Local restaurants > 60% of total production

• Frozen meat traders ±15%

• Individuals ±5%

• Exported < 1%

CHALLENGES SEMI COMMERCIAL

• Certifications are daunting task and costly for semi commercial farmers

• Without the necessary certifications, it’s very difficult for individual farmers to supply

the market

• Our products are all certified halal for local market but we need Veterinary Health

Mark to be able to export

• Together with the excellent quality produced, this paved the way for achieving

success without having to rely on the local market

• This had the benefit of allowing the market to develop naturally

CHALLENGES SEMI-COMMERCIAL

• The farmers rely on governmental agencies

• Development of VHM Certified Halal Slaughterhouse

• Local Breeding Centre and R&D

SMALL FARM HOLDER CHALLENGES

• Less than 50 does

• High production cost – high mortality (>20%); low quality feed

• Limited market access because of inconsistency in production (one-man show)

• Certification almost impossible – not economical/mixed production

STRATEGY: INTEGRATED RABBIT INDUSTRY BASED ON FARMERS GROUP AND COMMERCIAL ORIENTATION

Breeding/Research Centre

Groups of Farmers/Breeders (FS)

Carcass

• Food – satay etc.

• Clothes

• Animal feed

• Lab animal

Agricultural

waste

• Fertilizer

• Pesticide

• Domestic gas

Downstream

Industry

Multiplication Centres (GPS/PS)

Fur Manure Biogas Intestine

Downstream

Industry

Live

Rabbit

CURRENT STATUS

• Overall adoption rate low according to our direct communication with farmers

• In particular, housing technologies and disease control technologies were the least

adopted technologies by rabbit farmers.

• Previous study shows that (Mokoro, 2015) improved rabbit technology adoption was

influenced by farmer’s age, level of education, experience in rabbit farming and level

of awareness.

• Promoting adoption of latest technologies - increase level of awareness amongst

small holder farmers to improve rabbit production

CURRENT STATUS

• Small holder farmers’ adoption of improved rabbit technologies – including

record keeping

• To enable rabbit farmers who were in their active age bracket (below 40

years) thus making rabbit sub-sector to be a prime job creator, GDP growth

and food security supporter – awareness of the industry at

governmental/policy maker levels

• Improving sourced of rabbit production – MARBA & Governmental Agencies

such as Departmental of Veterinary Services collaborative works

CURRENT STATUS

• Low of education and lack of access to information among rabbit farmers - calls for

effective linkages between the farming community and the extension staff personnel

as most rabbit farmers were not well equipped with necessary knowledge for

producing rabbits.

• Improving technologies/references in local languages to help reach more farmers

with low levels of education.

• Improving farmers knowledge, skills and expertise necessary in maximizing rabbit

output and income potential of small scale farmers

• Organizing rabbit meat shows/carnivals, seminars and workshops – collaborative

work between DVS and farmers associations such as MARBA

FUTURE OF RABBIT FARMING IN MALAYSIA

• To educate public accepting rabbit meat as their regular menu –

empower small farm holder – “ambassador” of rabbit meat

consumption

• Promoting rabbit consumption from within – family members, friends,

relatives etc.

• Influencers from public figures as well as professionals (doctors etc)

• Educate public on how to cook rabbit

• Promoting the nutritive value of the rabbit meat

• Strong foundation for local rabbit production growth.

MARBA STRATEGIC PLAN

No. Hub Functions

1 Promoting and

Marketing

Developing a platform for online and offline marketing

Providing affordable marketing platform

Developing marketing strategy and marketing contents

2 Commercial

Production

Incubator

Development of local commercial rabbit breeds

Collaborative platform – commercial production ecosystem

Buying back activities

Processing and packaging

Commercial production training

MARBA STRATEGIC PLAN

No. Hub Function

3 Backyard and

Urban Farming

Team

Gather the right individuals to support new comers and existing farmers

Consultation & training for backyard & urban farm holders – assisting in barn

setup

Promoting sustainable farming

Develop and improvement of SOP for those farmers who need assistance on

sales – including monitoring compliance to our “collecting centre”

4 Training,

Consultation,

Certification

Providing facilities for training

Assisting members to get access to the industry experts or relevance

agencies

Assistance – paperwork, information on relevance certification needed,

collaborated with related certification, fund etc bodies/agencies

Facilities for commercial producers training

MARBA STRATEGIC PLAN

No. Hub Function

5 Corporate Relations

and Events

Planning and managing annual events AGM, conference, carnival

Access investors

International networking

6 Supporting Industry

TeamRabbit farm by-products – R&D and products development

Supplies – animal housing, caging, feed, live animals etc

7 Down stream products

development

Gather and help the members to tap into the market

8 Farm Technology,

Nutrition/Feed

Production

Infra – technology update and adopt

Feed production – collaboration with feed company in producing or

bulk purchase

MARBA STRATEGIC PLAN

No. Hub Function

9 Merit Panel (Fund

Accessibility) SOP

Panel & Accreditation

Compliance monitoring, Improve SOP

10 Collection Centre Relevance facilities

Buy back

Distribution

COLLECTION CENTRE

Collection

Centre

Buying Back Processing Selling Marketing Training

Cold-room < 30kg a month -

cash

Slaughtering Wholesale Online Small Scale Farm

Logistic > 30kg < 100kg a

month – 14 days

Storage Online/Offline

platform

Offline Incubator

SOP &

Consultation

> 100kg a month

– 30 days

Packaging Retails Regional Semi Intensive

Monitoring - Distribution Hypermarket Specific/Niche Large Scale

Commercialization

MECHANISM

Products Collection Centre Wholesale Retail Price

Live Rabbit RM12.5 – 13.5/kg -

Carcass RM27/kg RM35/kg >RM35

Boneless RM39/kg RM45/kg >RM45

RABBIT FARMING PROJECTS FOR B40

• Purposes

1. Increase livelihood of B40 in urban (especially in state of Selangor)

2. Empower young agro-prenuer in the industry

• Mechanism

1. Comprehensive training in rabbit farm management

2. Incubator

MECHANISMS FOR INCUBATOR

STAGE 1

Feedlot

STAGE 2

Breeding (FS)

STAGE 3

Multiplication Centre (PS)

STAGE 4

Breeding + Selection Centre

Theory & on-field practice will be done from the easiest task

TRAINING & CONSULTINGInternship

One week training – rabbit far management

Collaborative Research – UPM, UiTM, UM

FREE Coaching

COLLABORATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES AND NGO

COLLABORATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES AND NGO

LOCAL NETWORKING,

SEMINAR & WORKSHOPS

INTERNATIONAL NETWORKING

BALITNAK

KNOWLEDGE ADVANCING PLATFORM

PROMOTION AND MARKETING

FARM MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND MORE!

• https://www.goodtreefms.com/

• https://www.facebook.com/good3fms/

• https://blog.goodtreefms.com/

• Veegro – Marketplace & “Yellow Pages”

• https://www.veegro.com/

• Breeding management

• Affordable system for small farm holder

– encourage good record keeping

• Farm Record – for better decision

making

• Into better management of common

tasks

• Digital data – adoption of RFID & QR

code

• Marketplace and social platform – share

their resources, sell products & by-pass

middle men

THANKS!