Schools across T&T could soon be en­gag­ing in rab­bit pro­duc­tion.

This an­nounce­ment was made by Natasha Lee, the pres­i­dent of the Na­tion­al 4-H Coun­cil of T&T.

She spoke with Guardian Me­dia on Fri­day when 4-H Vol­un­tary Lead­ers vis­it­ed the Igna­cio Rab­bit­ry in Princes Town. Lee said the project should as­sist many fam­i­lies with slash­ing the amount of mon­ey they spend on meat month­ly. And al­so in­crease the use of lo­cal­ly grown plants as fod­der for rab­bits.

Lee said, “We want to de­vel­op food sus­tain­abil­i­ty through rab­bit rear­ing. Last term, 4-H was asked by the Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture to pre­pare spaces for rab­bits. They were en­gaged in a project to dis­trib­ute rab­bits to schools. 4-H felt it nec­es­sary that teach­ers get the ed­u­ca­tion be­fore the school gets the an­i­mals.

“4-H has al­so writ­ten to Nu­trien with a pro­pos­al to as­sist schools with hous­ing for the rab­bits be­cause we have to look at space, cli­mate con­di­tions and care of the an­i­mals on week­ends and on hol­i­days. We would be stress­ing to stu­dents that this is rab­bit rear­ing for food and food sus­tain­abil­i­ty.”

Lee al­so made a call for cor­po­rate en­ti­ties to as­sist schools with this project. She said even if schools do not have phys­i­cal space, the rab­bits can be reared at home by young 4-H mem­bers who are will­ing to do so. 

Jude Igna­cio, the op­er­a­tor of Igna­cio Rab­bit­ry, said there has been a grow­ing de­mand for rab­bit meat in this coun­try.

He ex­plained that a rab­bit with an av­er­age weight of five pounds (2.267 kilo­grammes) takes around 90 days to ma­ture and can re­tail for around $175, lo­cal­ly. Igna­cio said the best breeds of rab­bit for meat are the Cal­i­for­nia White and the New Zealand.