Abstract
<p><strong>Background.</strong> Malnutrition is the biggest problem currently threatening human wellbeing across the world directly affecting one-third of people and occurring in many forms. In developing countries, it expresses itself via stunted growth in children, diseases occurrences and deficiency of vital nutrients required for normal physiological functions. In the perspective of animal production, addressing poor animal protein intake by increasing supply of meat for consumption is a viable option for fighting the menace of malnutrition. <strong>Main findings </strong>This paper identified malnutrition and hunger as major problems in developing countries and suggested rabbit production as cheaper alternative for increasing protein supply because rabbit production is cheap and can supply affordable meat, it has short gestation interval hence it has potential for high yield per production period, it has superior meat quality and require minimal capital investment for its production compared with other animal production units. <strong>Implications. </strong>Apart from its roles in food supply; rabbit has strong relevance in bioscience research as model animal in studying pathophysiology of diseases and metabolic dysfunctions of man because of its genetical and physiological closeness to humans. <strong>Conclusion.</strong> This paper summarized and made cases for re-introduction of rabbit as micro-livestock for meat production and it use as model animal in biological research investigations.</p>
Highlights
Malnutrition is a major food crisis in developing countries; intake of animal protein is 4.5 g per capita daily which is very low compared with the minimum global requirement of 35 g per capita daily (FAO, 2015)
Rabbit an animal discovered in Spain about 100 B.C. by the Phoenicians; domesticated at about the l6th century apart from food supply, it is a model animal for bioscience studies because rabbits are practically cost effective and efficient tool to speed-up research and the development of investigations into human diseases considering its gene sequence which is similar to most mammals and man
In Kenya - a developing country of subSaharan Africa, it was discovered that bulk of people rearing rabbits are adults making up more than 75 % of people sampled in rural districts; these rabbit keepers were characterized as being heads of their households who engages in rabbit production as major source of income to support their family needs
Summary
Malnutrition is a major food crisis in developing countries; intake of animal protein is 4.5 g per capita daily which is very low compared with the minimum global requirement of 35 g per capita daily (FAO, 2015). Records of rabbit meat per capita consumption in most developing countries is very hard to come by considering the situation of the rabbit industry which is grossly unorganized and backyard dominated livestock production system Despite all these challenges, rabbit production is contributing meaningful to agricultural development in some developing countries notably Kenya where it was described as a potential entreprise that is economically viable; in some other countries as well because of its low capital outlay to produce which makes it highly suitable and economical by both poor and rich farmers. Rabbit apart from just been an Easter bunny and pet for children; holds significant potential to ease hunger and supply modest income for impoverished rural families all over the world through provision of quality meats, sales of manure and production of fur; hides and skin as industrial raw materials (Hilmi, 1998). Apart from immunological research, rabbit genome is identified to be highly valuable for studies associated with annotation of human genes which are imperatives for understanding mechanisms associated with development of many diseases (Broad Institute, 2018)
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