Economic Analysis in a Small-Scale Farm Producing Rabbit for Meat Purposes in Argentina

Abstract

Rabbits in Argentina are mostly produced by rural farmers who maintain small-scale operations for meat and complements other farm activities. The main meats consumed in Argentine are beef (46.1 kg/per capita/year), poultry (45.2 kg/per capita/year), pork (14.6 kg/per capita/year) and sheep (1.06 kg/per capita/year); respect to rabbit meat, not exceed 2 g/per capita/year. The objective of this study was to analyze the economic efficiency and feed cost of rabbit production for meat in a small-scale farm of Argentina. The global FCR was of 5.7, and an average of 15.9 kg/animal were required to produce live weight of slaughtered one rabbit of 2.85 kg. The average of rabbit price/feed price and the relation of rabbit meat price/feed price was of ratio was of 15.2 and 10.8 respectively. The global FCR worsens when the productivity values are lower than 2.5 animals/doe/month. The profit obtained for each commercialized rabbit was very low (USD 0.06/animal). Within the strategies to develop the productive chain of rabbit meat in Argentina, it should aim to stimulate the consumption habit promoting the high nutritional quality of the meat, improve the superior price ratio with respect to other meats such as chicken and pork.