Rodent farming is an agricultural process in which

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

s are bred and raised with the intent of selling them for their meat. They are often categorised in a sub-category of

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

known as micro-livestock, due to their small size. Rodents have been used as food in a wide range of cultures, including Hawaiian, Vietnamese, French, Indian and Thai. Rodent farming has been suggested as a solution to the world's increased requirements for food associated with an increasing population as a result of a number of perceived benefits with their production and consumption.

As food

Rodents have been hunted and farmed in a number of cultures. The polynesian rat was hunted and consumed by the common people in pre-contact Hawaii. Capybaras, agoutis, and guinea pigs have historically been eaten in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

-- guinea pigs were farmed as far back in 2500 BCE in what is now Peru. Cane rats can grow up to 60 cm in length and weigh up to 10 kg and are hunted as bush meat in western and central Africa. Rats were commonly eaten during the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

in China; they may have been domesticated as they were called “household deer”. The Mishmi people in the Lohit district in India traditionally hunted rats. Dishes with rats captured in wine cellars are described in '' Larousse Gastronomique'' and rats are eaten in rural Thailand.

Farming

A perverse incentive led to rat farming in 1902, when rat catchers bred rats in the sewers of Hanoi to collect a reward that the colonial government of

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

offered for rat tails. In the contemporary era, rodent farming has been suggested as a sustainable agriculture method to address current global

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...

and to meet the needs of the world's growing population. Rodent farming can be economically efficient, since they can produce a large number of offspring per year, have a limited gestation period, and have a high feed conversion ratio. They require little space, so could be farmed in urban areas. Efforts have been made to develop rat farming among the dalit in the Indian state of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

; one obstacle to this is that the animal vehicle of the god Ganesh is a rat. In

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, cane rats is encouraged in economic development efforts. In Australia, a rat farm that provides food for zoos and pet stores was the subject of a 2018 profile.

Management

Rodents can be kept in sheds or cages, and fed grain, pellets, or scraps. In nations with strict animal cruelty regulations, such as Australia, the animals must be killed humanely, for example by gassing with carbon dioxide. In nations without these regulations, it is more common for the animals to be killed by drowning or bludgeoning.

References

{{Reflist Rats Livestock Meat industry Rodents and humans

As food

Farming

Management

See also

References