FAO/Mazen Haffar

Entrepreneurs are unique – their mission in life is to craft solutions for the purpose of meeting people/community’s needs, and in doing so to make a good livelihood. In the context of a country that suffered a crisis for more than 10 years, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) designed a comprehensive programme ‘Nabta’ that introduces entrepreneurship to youth and women in rural areas.

One such entrepreneur is Ali Hamoud – a displaced person, who fled his hometown in Ar-Raqqa to settle in As-Sfiera - rural Aleppo, to a micro-business owner who promotes rabbits’ meat as an alternative and affordable source of nutrient food for vulnerable families:  “My interests in rabbits breeding started when I was only 16. It was a source of food for my family back in Raqqa”.

“I was doubtful about resuming rabbit breeding as a livelihood after we fled to Aleppo. Displacement gives a feeling of uncertainty, which prevents you from settling and living an ordinary life!  But I did not want to live like this - so I had to make up my mind,” he adds.

Back in the days before the crisis, rabbit meat was rarely favoured by the Syrian people who tended to prefer sheep, cow and poultry meat.  Few farmers were involved in breeding rabbits as a business. However, the economic crisis which has hit Syria over the past 3 years has forced many trying to cope with the financial situation to try and find cheaper alternative sources of nutritious food.

Rabbit is profitable as a domesticated animal - in terms of production periods, utilization, and profit margins. It has the highest amount of digestible protein and contains the lowest fat, calories and sodium of all other types of meat.

When Ali, 34 years old, decided to settle in As-Sfiera in 2014, he tried to try commercial-scale rabbit rearing as a business. His first attempt was unsuccessful - he lost one third of hus animals due to poor planning. According to Ali, he lacked some of the business skills he needed: “both timing and transportation were key factors that led to most of the rabbits’ mortality. I realized that I needed to make some changes to standardize my approach if I was to avoid losses. I learned about risk management and SWOT analysis through FAO’s ‘Nabta’ programme, which broadened my understanding of the potential risks.” He said. 

Ali joined the FAO ‘Nabta’ entrepreneurship programme implemented under FAO Smallholder Support Programme funded by the European Union.  This programme promotes learning related to business, production, and promotion principles. He and his peers were introduced to the principles of business idea generation, proposal writing, SWOT analysis, branding & marketing, and other topics, besides having close support from FAO experts on best agricultural practices.

This experience opened Ali’s eyes to modern farming practices and business management. During the start-up phase of his project, ‘Nabta’ consultants supported the planning and implementation, all the way from buying the right rabbit breeds to putting together a promotion plan, as well as advising Ali on discovering the market potential for rabbit meat.  

Ali started by breeding 10 mature rabbits, but ended up with over 60 rabbits in less than one month (a single female rabbit can give birth to up to 40 baby rabbits in one year). By this, he sold rabbits on to local breeders, who in return fatten the rabbits for sale as meat.

“One kg of rabbit meat is sold for 4,500 SYP (less than one USD) at a butchers’ shops, compared to the price of one kg of chicken meat of 15,000 SYP (around three USD).” said Ali “like many people in As Sfiera, I have a big family, so with the price of 1 kg of chicken I can buy three kg of rabbit meat and enjoy its high nutritious value and taste as well,” he added.

Nowadays; with an investment of 180,000 SYP per month (60 USD), Ali makes around 400,000 SYP per month (133 USD), with a net profit of around 220,000 SYP per month (73 USD).  Thanks to his experience of the ‘Nabta’ programme, he plans to allocate more land in order to stock a wider range of rabbit breeds to meet the potential market demand and provide his family a better life.