Samantha decides to set up a snail farm. It is a booming industry. A lot of people are getting into it. The advantages are many. Snails breed quickly. And there is a huge market for selling them. It sounds like a win-win situation.
The cost for her setup is Ghs 40,000.00 ($3400.00). She makes her deposit and her snail farmhouse is built. It is a metal structure with a protective mesh around it. The mesh is to help ward off other insects and animals. Inside the farmhouse, Coco Yam serves as food for the snails.
In November 2023, 1000 snails are delivered to kick start the breeding process. She is excited about setting up a second stream of revenue. I am excited for her.
Unfortunately, as the days go by more snails are dying. It becomes the order of the day. She is scratching her head about it.
She informs me about the situation and I decide to investigate. I speak with the supervisor and the staff on the farm.
What could be making the snails die?
After dragging their feet for a few minutes, the reason is that a mother snake lives around the area. Her snake-lets – baby snakes – have been doing the damage. The snake-lets – baby snakes – are eating the snails. As it stands they have killed about 5 of the snake-lets inside the farmhouse. They keep spotting them from time to time. How do we get rid of the baby snakes?
The second cause of death is lizards. They seem to be invading the farmhouse. We are actively patching all the holds around the mesh. We still see lizards inside the farmhouse.
The third cause of death could well be anything we can’t even think about. Nature has its reasons.
As it stands keeping the snails alive is an ongoing headache. We are still hoping to salvage the situation.
