Rats farming: Young Juma tells it all, shows the way...

Dar es Salaam. Twenty-eight year old Juma Selemani had no intention of becoming a major rat farmer – until increasing demand for the animals in his small project persuaded him to “go commercial”.

Now the young entrepreneur with a wildlife science background is producing thousands of rats to meet the huge demand of experimental rats for secondary schools in Morogoro Region and elsewhere across the land.

Mr Selemani’s idea of rats-keeping was the result of a small study he conducted in 2018/2019 of secondary schools in the Morogoro Municipality, which showed that the schools were facing a challenge in obtaining the little beasts for experimental purposes in their laboratories.

After all, the government had been encouraging students – especially girl-students – to study Science subjects so that they could fill the gap of scientists in the country. But, there are challenges of important issues like availability of materials for experiments in laboratories, including living organisms.

Young Selemani saw this as a golden opportunity to provide the requisite subjects-matter for lab experiments… Including rats, of course!

What with one thing leading to another, today the young man produces about 600 domesticated rats a year, each of which he sells at Sh3000.

But, the market demand is much higher, as he is only able to meet the demand by a measly three percent.

Mr Selemani graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Science at the Sokoine University of Agriculture (Sua) in Morogoro Region in 2017.

Noting that “most schools in Morogoro were relying on Sua to supply them with the rats they needed for biological experiments,” Mr Selemani said the supplies were not enough to meet the demand.

“While some of the schools were purchasing rats from people who caught the animals in farms and nearby forests, others were teaching classes using rat pictures only,” he said. “After seeing that rats were good business – and that I could play an important role in helping students with their practical training – I decided to use my knowledge of Wildlife Science to start a rats-keeping project-cum-business which, I believe, is a useful undertaking all-round,” Mr Selemani explained. With an initial capital of only Sh200,000, the young man started the business of rats-farming – so to speak – doing so under the Sokoine University Graduate Entrepreneurs Cooperative (Sugeco) incubation programme, which has given him space for rats production activities.

How he started the ‘ratty business’

Speaking to The Citizen via SME Digest, Mr Selemani said: “I started getting involved in rats farming in 2018 and, later, I joined Sugecofor implementation of the project with the aim of increasing efficiency and productivity,” he says.

“In my research, I have not come across information on rats-farming anywhere else in Tanzania, other than Sua, the first to start rearing these rodents for use on-campus. Sua also occasionally supplies surplus rodents to some secondary schools and intermediate colleges for practical training,” he revealed.

As he was speaking to the writer, rats were virtually swarming all over him like a long-lost friend.

Smiling broadly, Mr Selemani said “It was not easy at the beginning to convince my friends regarding this odd undertaking – with some saying they expected to see me employed in some sumptuous office. But this is my dream-come-true: being self-employed. “People have now begun to understand me, after seeing the project succeed, and they encourage me to do better. So if you want to succeed, you must move forward and not let anyone hinder you,” he stresses. “The rats I breed are not the common predatory rats that we are used to seeing in households. These are special rats known as domestic albino rats, white rats. They are a cross-breed imported from India and other Asian countries,” he said. “They are rats that cannot survive on their own if they are left to fend for themselves in terms of meeting their basic needs. In short, these rats are kept in cages, and have to be fed, etc., just like modern poultry keeping,” he told the SMEs Digest.

Why rats-farming, pray?

Young Selemani said the main purpose of his project is business, aimed at professionally providing goods and services on demand. “This also solves some of the challenge faced by many schools that cannot readily access the right kind of specimens for laboratory experiments and practical training. My project helps them to get the specimens they need on time. “This is an opportunity like any other business opportunity and any young person has the right to enjoy what he/she is doing –and, at the same time earn good money even as he/she serves his/her customers in particular, and Society at large,” he philosophises. “I started rats-breeding little by little, starting at the very beginning with only 24 rats in a ratio of 1: 4; one male rat to four female rats.

Up until last year (2020), I sold more than a thousand rats in six administrative regions on Mainland Tanzania,” he reveals.

“We have not yet been able to meet even three percent of the rats demand for all academic institutions in the country. In order to meet at least 50 percent of the demand for the rats, we need to produce at least 3,000 rats a year.

“Currently, I am breeding about 600 rats in seven cages… I can’t give my monthly sales figures off-hand. But, our goal is to create awareness for stakeholders so that we can enter into contracts under which to distribute rats according to their needs. Since we started the business, I am happy to say that we have already sold over 1000 rats,” he says.

Future plans, and advice to youth

“Our vision is to have branches of our project in all regions of the country, employing at least 400 young people, and meet 90 percent of the demand for practical training in education institutions across the country,” he said.

At the end of it all, Mr Selemani will not forget Sugeco for its significant contribution to the development of his project, he sentimentalized – stressing that“they have worked hard to provide all the operational costs of the project including food and the environment of the project in general.

“But they have not stopped there. They have also helped to create awareness for the actors, including leaders at various ministries, as well as regional, district and school levels. They have also released various publications explaining the project as well as making documentaries using some media organs,” he revealed.

By way of conclusion, young Selemani told SMEs Digest that the rats business has helped him to meet with various officials in government and other institutions, as well as a number of stakeholders who showed interest in, and appreciation of, the rats-farming project.

“This has been most encouraging for me,” he frankly said.

“The youth should focus on the challenges that exist in society, and find ways solving them by creating opportunities rather than just blame the government for lack of employment opportunities.

“Personally, I urge the government to give priority to young people who are self-employed by functionally addressing the existing social challenges and support them in one way or another as these are the catalysts for development.

“We desperately need government support – not only in the form of cash, but also moral support,” he concluded.