Two afternoons of discovery of the sector were organized at the end of October in the North and South of the island by the Cooperative of Rabbit Producers of Reunion Island.. Goal : present the activity which is still little known in Reunion and encourage vocations because the sector lacks breeding grounds.
With the aim of supporting the development of the rabbit industry in Reunion Island, the Reunion Rabbit Producers Cooperative organized these two afternoons intended to recruit future breeders. The rabbit industry needs to install new breeders to strengthen its production capacity and continue to build its future.. Through this initiative, the CPLR was aimed at a wide audience : not only farmers or breeders, but also lay people who may be interested in the activity, students, people in retraining… These meetings made it possible to address the subject of breeding, of the installation process and to exchange with different players in the sector. They were thus open to all those with agricultural experience or not., able to turn to rabbit breeding, whether as part of a new activity, to change careers or simply looking for additional income. These two meetings took place on October 26 at the Bras-Panon multipurpose hall and on October 29 at the Saint-Joseph professional agricultural high school.. For two years, the cooperative struggles to meet consumer demand. In cause, insufficient production. Hence the need to increase the number of rabbit growers. The CPLR plans to be able to support 25 new breeders throughout the country by 2025. The cooperative plays a real advisory and support role in the installation of new breeders.. She accompanies them in all their efforts, in the preparation of their file in particular. Getting started in rabbit farming, it’s embracing a profession that requires expertise, but which also offers a certain flexibility. Aimed at both female and male audiences (47% are breeders), raising rabbits can be complementary to other work. Monitoring based, it can constitute a diversification activity for breeders and farmers already in practice.
The CPLR is 40 years old
Created in 1981 by rabbit producers wishing to bring together rabbit farming stakeholders, the cooperative now brings together around twenty breeders. Farms, family sized, are structured around a reference farm of 176 mother cages. The CPLR is a member of the ARIV inter-professional association (Reunion Island Interprofessional Poultry and Rabbit Association) one of whose missions is to provide access to local, quality livestock products to all Reunion Islanders. Daily, the CPLR provides administrative and technical support to breeders, as well as logistical support for the processing and packaging of products and commercial support.
Jimmy Payet, president of the CPLR :
“Facing sustained demand from consumers and wishing to once again be able to respond to calls for tenders in collective catering from communities, while ensuring the replacement of future retirements in the coming years, the sector must secure and rapidly develop its production. The issue is therefore twofold : retain current consumers but also retain others, which is not possible with the current level of production. These two discovery days were therefore an opportunity to improve the visibility of the sector and to discover an installation opportunity.. The number of visitors received and the investment of the various partners in the sector are already proof of the success of the operation.. From the next few months, we hope that some files will really be put on track. The positive impacts will occur over several years, installation time varies depending on the case, of the situation, of market demand…”
