Descriptive analysis of rabbit meat marketing parameters in the north-east of Algeria

Abstract

As in many African countries, the rabbit meat sector in Algeria lacks a structured market system. Very few studies have approached this issue. Thus, this paper aims to investigate the main parameters of rabbit meat marketing. To meet this objective, a descriptive survey method was provided, using a structured questionnaire, literature review and direct observation. Our study has covered the key areas of rabbit production including ten wilayas (i.e. geopolitical districts, regions, provinces, areas) situated in the northeastern part of Algeria. A survey was carried out among 32 butchers. Data were obtained through a field survey using face-to-face interviews. The result shows that the butchers are mostly men, belonging to six main wilayas; the majority of them are married, with an average age of 45 yr, and most have secondary school level or baccalaureate educational qualifications. Cross tabulations have shown a significant coefficient between location of butchers and four marketing factors i.e. rabbit selling criteria, sales volume per week, type of meat sold, and type of clientele. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) allow us to classify and to show the correlation between the different wilayas and the influential marketing factors. Rabbit meat market seems to be modest, fragmented and not organised, due to many obstacles, mainly lack of knowledge and awareness of rabbit meat, high cost production, high selling price and unavailability. Despite these setbacks, there is an opportunity to enhance rabbit marketing by increasing production, supporting breeders, reducing the selling price of rabbit and educating people about the nutritional quality of this kind of meat. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first to create the sociogeographic profile of rabbit butchers and investigate the association between the different aspects and factors linked to rabbit meat marketing.

Characterization of Rabbits of Local Algerian Population: Reproductive Performances, Growth and Carcass Traits

“…Dressing out percentage of the hot carcass in this experiment was 69%. In north-east of Algeria, the survey conducted by Sanah et al (2022) pointed out similar slaughter yield of 65%. However, Boudour et al (2016) and Moumen et al (2016) noted for the same local population a lower result with 51%.…”

“…According to the bibliography, the result was in the standards obtained in rabbit of local Algerian population. The weight at slaughter was 1.5 to 3 kg at 10 to 14 weeks of age (Sanah et al, 2022;Benabdelaziz et al, 2021).…”

“…In Algeria the rabbit marketing is still modest, not organised or structured. It is practiced on a small scale (Sanah et al, 2022). The rabbit farming is essentially based on the breeding of rabbits from the local Algerian population in order to ensure a supply of proteins to urban markets at a lower cost.…”

Rabbit Meat—Production, Consumption and Consumers’ Attitudes and Behavior

“…Thus, the capability of animals to convert feed into meat is a key characteristic for predicting the economic performance and environmental sustainability of the farming system [21]. Moreover, rabbits can adapt to a variety of ecosystems and can also feed on food waste and agricultural by-products [22,23].…”